The Morningway Agenda
by strange oblivion
Summary: AU crossover with The Dresden Files. What if John lost Dean and Sammy after the events seen in flashback in Something Wicked? What if Mary was a Morningway? How would the lives of Dean, Sammy and Harry Dresden be different? This is AU on all accounts
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: This is a cross over between Supernatural and the Dresden Files. Even more, we've picked out elements from both the books and the TV Series of the Dresden Files that we liked best. It starts shortly after Samuel is attacked by the Shtriga in Season One of Supernatural in "Something Wicked." It's completely pre-cannon in both versions of the Dresden Files. Yes, we are definitely in AU.

John packed their things in short order, he wanted out of there before the witch could come back for his youngest son. He barked orders at Dean, not meaning to, but this entire process was killing him.

Erin and Tom had been after him to leave the boys with them while he hunted for months now. And the near miss with Sam and the Shtriga was enough to make it clear that it was exactly what he needed to do. He didn't want to be separated from his children but he couldn't risk losing them either.

"Get your brother in the car, Dean."

"Yes sir." Dean said, biting off an 'I'm sorry.' Because his father didn't want to hear it. Probably didn't want to believe it either. He just wanted some air. Stuck in the motel room for days on end...he couldn't take it anymore. He didn't ask to be put in charge of Sammy, of everything, all the time. He just was. It wasn't fair, but he didn't say anything. He remembered the look on his father's face as the shtriga flew off, after nearly getting Sammy, and his father was right. It was his fault. "Come on, Sammy." He said quietly as he took his little brother's hand and led him into the car, getting Sammy settled into the backseat of the Impala and making sure his seatbelt was on tight.

"I'm sorry Dean." Sammy said, figuring this was somehow his fault. Usually when Dean looked like that, Sam had done something stupid and their father had thought he should have stopped him first. "I didnit mean to get you in trouble." Not that he had any idea what he had done.

John put their things in the trunk of the car, and got into the driver's side. He had called Erin and she was excited about the boys coming. John just didn't know how to break it to them without it coming off as him abandoning them. It wasn't what he was doing. He was making sure they were safe. It was different, but he knew that it woudn't seem that way to two little boys.

Dean made sure Sam was settled down as John started off down the highway. He knew too well that this was his fault. Sam had almost died, and his dad didn't get to finish the job. Because he was careless. Put himself over Sammy. This is what happened when he did that. Now he didn't know where they were going as cars streaked by them, the scenery turning into a blur. "It's okay Sammy." He whispered to his brother.

John drove through the night, looking in the rear view mirror at his boys. His life was sitting in the back seat nestled in close together, as though warding off the rest of the world. And he was giving up his world. He wasn't sure he could do this. But he didn't have a choice. If he didn't, one day he would come back to their hotel room and find them both dead. There had been no way Dean could have protected Sam against that thing. He would have lost them both. And that knowledge tore at his heart.

He parked the Impala outside a two story home in a small town an hour out of Chicago. He had met Erin and Ted through his hunter connections. Pastor Jim knew them, and they were ... normal. They knew what was going on in the world, knew the right precautions, but they lived in a home, held down jobs, they could give his sons things that he couldn't any more.

And it wasn't like he couldn't come back for them later, or see them when ever he wanted. He just couldn't take them with him any longer. He couldn't risk losing them forever.

"Here we are." He said and turned around in the seat to look at his boys, everything he was feeling evident in his eyes. "We need to talk about a few things before we go in. I am going to need both of you to be brave, and hold it together for me alright?"

Dean immediately straightened, on edge and wary. "Dad..what's going on?" He said, holding his breath. No idea what was coming next. But knew whatever it was, he wouldn't like it. His life had been filled with change and chaos, and he was ever wary of the next set of changes, of the next string of chaotic events. "Dad..." He looked at the house, and back at his father.

"Erin and Tom are friends. Pastor Jim introduced me to them a while back. You boys are going to be staying here for a little while. Just until things slow down. Then I will be back to get you." He reassured them.

Sam's eyes got wide. "You're leaving us here... you... you aren't gonna be back in a couple of days?" He didn't know what to think, all he knew was how he felt. And he felt scared. "I don't wanna stay with strangers. I wanna stay with Dean."

"Dean is going to be with you Sam. It's gonna be okay." John said.

"It's gonna be great." Dean said to reassure Sam. And met John's eyes. Anger, despair, fear, all of it mixed into young hazel-green eyes, where there should never be anger, despair and fear. "It's gonna be great. Come on, Sam, let's go."

Sam clung to his older brother, fighting the tears that were welling in his eyes. He didn't want to bawl like a baby. Didn't want to embarrass Dean but it hurt so much that his daddy would just leave them like this. "Things never slow down." He said looking up at his father.

John cleared his throat and got out of the car to get the boys' things. "You'll like it here. There are other kids in the neighborhood. Maybe when I come back by I can bring you guys a puppy or something. You were wanting something normal in your life, right Dean? The chance to make friends and maybe get involved in sports. It'll work out. Really." His voice cracked. "And I won't be gone forever."

"Yeah. Right." Dean said sullenly. "It's fine. Just go. We'll be fine." He said. He didn't believe for a moment that John wouldn't be gone forever. He was really ditching them with strangers for the hunt. Which apparently counted more in his life than Dean or Sam ever would. But Sam...Dean couldn't cry right now. Couldn't get upset, because he had to be strong for Sammy. Someone had to take care of Sammy, even if their own father didn't want to right now. "Bye." He said as he led Sam up the steps.

The front door opened and a middle aged woman stepped out and smiled at the boys. "You must be Sam and Dean." She said. "You can call me Erin, Tom is at work but he will be so excited to meet you. Are you hungry?" She asked looking up at John and giving him a sympathetic look. She knew this wasn't easy for him.

Sam looked up at Dean, taking his lead in all of this. If he didn't, he would find himself running back for the Impala and his father. He didn't say anything to the woman as she looked down at them with that smiling face. That warm and friendly voice that all the moms on TV have.

Dean was angry. He was so angry at John, he couldn't look back at his father. So he didn't. "I'm Dean." He said. "Come on, Sammy, we should eat something." Because Sam always needed to eat.

Sam nodded, letting Dean lead the way. He didn't have anything to say. Not to these people, and not to his father. Grown ups couldn't be trusted. If their father couldn't be trusted, then obviously no one could.

Erin motioned for John to come in with the boys' things. "Okay, well let me show you where the kitchen is. " She said and led the way. "I have some muffins and milk right now, is that alright or do you want something hot for breakfast?"

"They'll be fine with that" John answered for them. "I'm sure they will want to see their rooms."

Sam clutched at Dean again at that. He didn't want his own room. He wanted to stay with Dean. No one else knew how to chase the dreams away and what if he had one and Dean wasn't there?

Dean took the bags from John. "We're fine. You can go. We don't want to hold you up." He said to his father and looked at Erin. Looking every inch of the little boy he truly was beneath the bravado and hurt. "Can we...can we share a room?" He asked quietly.

"Of course you can. We can move the other bed into which ever of the two rooms you two prefer." Erin said as she set out the muffins and poured two glasses of milk for the boys.

John stood at the door watching his sons, every rejection from them cutting deeper than the last. "It's only for a little while." He said. "I just want you to be safe." He knew that was hard for them to understand now but later they would. "I'll be back before you know it."

Dean didn't answer as he led Sam to the table and hunched his narrow shoulders over his plate. Short of screaming at his father, and begging him not to leave them, there was nothing to say. And nothing he'd say would make a difference.

Erin went over to John. "They'll be fine. We'll keep them safe." She said.

"I'll call... even if he won't talk to me... I'll call. " John knew Dean was angry. He couldn't blame him. He was angry with himself as well for setting this situation up. He should never have taken them with him on the road. It wasn't the sort of life he had ever wanted for his sons.

John allowed Erin to walk him out of the house. "You can contact Jim or Bobby if there is anything wrong. They always know how to find me."

"It's going to be alright. We have it under control. They will be safe and secure here. John. Give it a little time, they'll come around. Probably knock you over in the excitement when you come back."

John had his doubts. She didn't know Dean yet. Sam might... if he was willing to move away from Dean long enough but Dean was going to hold this against him for a long time to come. It broke his heart but he couldn't go through it again. Couldn't bear the thought of watching something attacking one of his boys as it had back in that hotel

"I'll be back in a couple of weeks." He said as he turned to go. If he didn't just do it, he would never be able to leave them.

Dean listened. Waiting for John to come through the door and say this was all a joke or something. But the only thing he heard was the rumble of the Impala's engine and the gravel crunching under its tires. He pushed his plate away, all appetite gone, but made sure Sammy ate.

Their father left them. He left. He got into the car and drove away without a second thought. First his mother died, now his father left him. He was only eleven. Just eleven.

Sam cried.

He had tried to be so strong because he knew Dean would want him to but he just couldn't be when he heard the car driving away. His father was gone and they were with people they had never met before. He knew Dean couldn't make it better, and he knew his brother had to be hurting to, but he couldn't help it. Sometimes the hurt had to be let out to the outside or it would hurt worse later.

Dean just shook his head. Dad had left, he really did. This wasn't dropping them off at Pastor Jim's, or at Bobby's. This was leaving them. But he just pulled his brother to him as the tears coursed down his own face. This hurt.

Erin watched the boys, staying back and watching. This was good. She had known when she offered to take them that it was the worst possible way John could have handled it. But that was what she wanted. She wanted the boys to cut ties with their father. They were Morningways and shouldn't be raised by a man like John Winchester. There was so much potential in them to be realized. Unfortunately she couldn't take them to Justin now. There had to be a transition period. Justin needed to be the one who wanted them, not the one who got stuck with them in their eyes. She waited until they had cried themselves out.

"You two ready to go pick your room since you have two to choose from now?" She asked, as she picked up the boys bags. They didn't have much, but she would change that. Once they had settled in she would take them shopping, they looked like little ragamuffins. That wouldn't do.

"Yeah." Dean said as he took Sam's hand. He picked the first room. Defensively, it was by the stairs and had a strong tree outside the window. Offensively, there was a nook in the room where he could have the element of surprise. Because that was how he was raised.

Sam remained silent the entire time, his little shoulders occasionally shuddering with a hitching breath, the aftermath of an all out cry. He stood in the middle of the room and looked around. It was a nice room, and if their father were in the room next door he would have been excited about it. But it was just a room, just a house, empty of anything that would make it home. He walked to the window and stared out at the tree.

"Well, I will bring in the other bed for you, if I could get your help Dean." She asked. "We could get it all set up in no time."

"I'll be right back." Dean whispered to his brother. But the sooner they got the room set up , the sooner Erin would leave them alone. And he wanted to be alone with his brother.

It didn't take long to get the other twin bed and another dresser moved into the room and set up. "Okay. I am going to let you two get settled in. I think we'll have lunch out and do a little shopping. You boys need a few more things than you have now. Maybe a few toys as well. I know you haven't had the space to have much but while you are here we'll make sure you have everything you need." She looked at the younger Winchester "Are you alright Sam?" She asked, but the boy said nothing, wouldn't even look at her. She sighed. "It's alright. We'll have plenty of time to get to know each other." She said and turned to leave the room.

Once she left, Dean moved the dresser in front of the door. "Sam?" He said, looking at his little brother. Feeling as lost as Sam did. "It's going to be all right. Somehow. At some point. It's going to have to be."

"Why doesn't he love us anymore?" Sam asked in a whisper soft voice. As though he were afraid someone would hear him other than his brother. "I didn't mean to be in the way... or to get Mommy killed."

"This is my fault." Dean said with somber, quiet eyes. Hiding the rage inside. "I didn't do what I was supposed to." Because this all came on the heels of what had happened. That thing hovering over Sam because Dean couldn't follow simple directions.

Sam shook his head and clung to his brother. "I want to go home." He said quietly. "Not your fault. You didn't do anything wrong. Just... don't leave me, okay... please."

"You don't get to leave me either." Dean said. They had to stick together, they were all the other had now. And it was such a scary place to be when they were just children.

Sam fell silent once more and with resignation chose which bed and which dresser he wanted and put what few things he had away while Dean did the same. It was strange to unpack. Really unpack. Made it all seem real and Sammy didn't want it to seem real. He wanted their dad to come back after the hunt was done and wonder why they weren't ready to go.

He flinched a little as the door bumped against the dresser that Dean had placed in front of the door. "Is every thing alright in there?" Erin called out. "Dean, I need you to move what ever is blocking the door. No one is going to hurt you here."

"Everything's fine." He snapped. "And no. We're fine." The dresser wasn't moving until he was satisfied, or one of them had to pee. Whichever came first. He unpacked less than Sam. Just shoved his bags into the drawer and smushed them down until they fit and he could close the drawers.

"Dean, I know this is rough on you, and it has to hurt in ways that I can only imagine, but you can't block the door closed. We can arrange for a lock on the door if you want but you can't put furniture there. It's a fire hazard. So what do you say you move the dresser so that you don't have to be grounded on your first day here? I'm sure you want to go when Sam and I go shopping. You need things too."

"Planning on starting a fire?" He shot back. If there was a fire, he'd get out with Sammy. And that was that. But dammit he wanted some time without this strange woman checking in on them with her blindingly bright smile.

"Dean. Move the dresser now, or I will put Sam in his own room. If I can't trust you not to barricade yourselves in, then you can't share a room. I don't want to do that but I will if you don't do as I say. Now."

Dean kicked the dresser against the door but moved it. "Fine." He said, opening the door. Then he closed it again. "That woman!" He said to Sam. He just wanted space, just space.

Sam looked up at his brother. "He'll come back... " He said, having to believe that because he couldn't believe that their father would just leave them with strangers forever. "He said he would come back... "

"He did." Dean said, but he didn't believe it. There seemed to be a finality to John that Dean had never seen before. He didn't understand it, he didn't WANT to understand it. He wanted his life back that he had last week. This was all his fault.

"Dad always keeps his promises." Sam said trying to make Dean feel better. "And its not your fault. If Daddy were still mad at you he would have yelled alot more. " He went to sit down on the bed. "I don't like her." He said about Erin. "I don't want her to act like she's our mom."

"She's not our mom." Dean said firmly as he sat down next to his brother. "She's just a glorified babysitter. Someone Dad ditched us with so he could go do something mondo dangerous." Because that sounded good.

"Cause it's too far to pastor Jim's." Sam decided. It was the only thing that made sense. It was too far out of their father's way to take them to someone that they knew, so he chose these people instead.

Erin left the boys alone for a few hours. Letting them have their space, but eventually she had to gather them up and take them shopping. They needed new clothing, and all the normal things that little boys would want or need in their lives.

Although you would have thought it was a death sentence with all the enthusiasm they seemed to show. Sam refused to speak the entire time. She didn't know what to do with him. Unfortunately Dean seemed to speak for him far too often. Usually in defiance. The boy was going to be trouble, she could tell already.

She picked up clothing that was mostly to her liking for them, although she could tell that it would take perhaps 5 minutes to turn it back into something their father would have chosen to put them in. Games and books and toys for Sam. Dean insisting he was too old for toys.

She would be glad when they were out of her hair, but for now she could keep up appearances. "Okay boys. Go put your things away. Dinner will be in an hour, and Tom will be home then. So please ... try to smile just a little at the dinner table. "

Dean beamed the widest, fakest smile at her as he took Sam's hand and took him back to the bedroom. He shut the door behind them and shoved the bags in the closet. That counted as putting them away, right? "Dinner. Great." Dean said. This was too much stress for an eleven year old. He was already on the verge of breaking something.

Sam looked at his brother, he was worried about him. Dinner couldn't be any worse than the rest of the day had been, although he would be glad when the day was over and he could crawl into bed. He was hoping to wake up and find that it was just a bad dream. "Wanna play game?" He asked. His voice soft, almost inaudible.

He figured it was the last thing Dean wanted to do, but even the 7 year old realized that if they spent too much time dwelling on it, they would go insane. Or worse... start to cry again.

Dean was glad for the distraction. To shut up all the thoughts spinning around inside his head. "Actually, yeah." He said, with more enthusiam than he had shown all day. He pulled out a random game out of the closet. "Okay, Sorry. That's a good game." He said as he set it up on the floor.

They played a couple rounds of Sorry, until they were dragged down for dinner. Which was uncomfortable and awkward. Sam had fallen silent again, and Dean gave short, clipped answers to everything as they ate as quickly as they could.

Sam wasn't trying to be a brat. He just didn't want to talk to them. If he talked then he might learn to like them, and if he learned to like them... his dad would never take them with him again. So Sam wasn't going to talk. It was childlike logic, but at 7 it made perfect sense.

Tom and Erin made a great show of being understanding. Even when they wanted to strangle for boys for their attitude. They were hurting and it was easy to understand.

She conscripted the boys into helping with the dinner clean up, even Sam, who got to load the dishwasher after Dean rinsed the dishes and handed them to him. Neither was exactly thrilled with the chore, and no matter how much Dean insisted Sam didn't have to cause he was little, Erin disagreed.

"It's good for him to learn now. Besides, it isn't so hard." She told him. "Now... off to get your baths and into your night clothes. Lights out is at 8 for Sam, you can stay up an extra hour down here if you want to, Dean."

"No, I'll go to bed." Dean said. "I'm pretty tired." He was, the day had worn him out inside. And he didn't want Sam to be alone. He also didn't want to be alone. So they washed up, got into pajamas and climbed into bed.

"How much longer do we have to do this?" Tom asked his wife softly over running water, once the boys were in their room.

"A few days." She said. "Long enough for it to be believable that their father is dead on a hunt." Erin told him. "We don't want to wait too long or he'll show back up to get them. I saw the look in his eyes. He was as upset as the boys are. It won't last more than a hunt. I'll start setting things in motion in the morning."

"Good." Tom said. "I'll let Justin know, I'll call him from out of town. Little ears and all. Everything will work out fine, as long as we can keep those two under control for a couple of days."

"And John out of the way. "

As the days wore on, Sam became even more withdrawn. The nightmares were horrific, but after the first night their guardians let Dean handle it. Their presence only made things worse it seemed.

Dean was exhausted. Dealing with Sam's nightmares and his own thoughts left little time for sleep, and dark shadows began to appear below his green eyes, which were more haunted and filled with despair as each day passed without word from John. But he kept Sam occupied, and spoke for Sam when their guardians wanted something.

It was working out perfectly, Erin thought. Dean was tired enough to be near a breaking point, and he was the one they feared they'd have trouble with. He was more aggressive than his brother, who still didn't say a word, just stared silently at them, and let Dean speak for him. She knew Sam could talk, she'd heard him whispering to his brother late at night.

It was late in the 4th day when the call she had been waiting for had come. All was ready. She hung up the phone and produced her best crocodile tears as she headed up the stairs to speak with the children.

"Dean, Sam... " She said as she entered their room, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I ahm... I have bad news." She said as she made them sit down. "It's your father... this hunt that he was on. It went very badly. We just got word from Jim that... that he didn't make it. I am so sorry."

Dean jumped back up to his feet. "You're a liar!" He shouted at her. "You're lying! My dad is NOT dead. You take it back!" Because John wouldn't die, right? And leave both Dean and Sam as true orphans.

"Oh honey, I wish I was lying." She said. "Then you boys could still stay with us." She told him. "I'm sorry but it's true. You don't need to worry. Your father made sure that you had family to go to. Your mother's brother lives over in Chicago. Just an hour away. He wants to meet you and take you home with him now."

Sam was crying. His little body was shaking with the effort to hold it all inside, but he wasn't going to make a sound in front of this woman. He had been right not to get to like her, because they were going away again... just not the way he had hoped.

Their mother was dead. Their father was dead. Some strange woman told them about their father, now some uncle they'd never met was coming to take them. Dean's mind was spinning as he went back over to Sam and held him tight, in fear that Sam, too, would somehow go away.

"He knew this hunt was going to be a rough one... that's why he brought you here. He did love you." She told them as she rose slowly. "Your uncle will be here later on tonight, he's making arrangements for you." 

Sam held tightly to Dean as well. Part of him going numb inside even as he gave into the tears, and the silent sobs that wracked his small body.

Dean couldn't process it all. Nothing could kill his dad, he was superman. No, he was better than superman. He wasn't dead, this was some trick, he just couldn't figure out the punchline, but John wasn't dead.

Because children had trouble accepting what they didn't want to accept, that's how Dean's mind worked. It wasn't possible, and it wasn't happening.

Sam didn't have his brother's unshakable faith in their father. Dean was his hero. So it was Dean he clung to and took comfort from, even if Dean didn't realize he was giving it.

It was after dinner when Justin Morningway arrived. Neither of the boys had felt like eating, and Erin only gave lip service to encouraging them to do so. They were grieving. Small stomachs didn't get along with grief.

She made her way up the stairs and knocked on the bedroom door before opening it. "Your uncle is here." She told them and moved to gather their bags, having packed the boys things for them earlier.

And so they were leaving again. Nothing had changed in the base of Dean's life. Constantly moving from place to place. Which was why he hadn't bothered to unpack anything. Stability in his life was John, and now John was gone. One way or another he was gone.

Justin Morningway entered the room and looked at the two boys, with their tear stained cheeks. He knelt before them, at eyelevel. "I'm Justin. I was your mother's brother." He said softly. "I'd like to take you home with me if I could."

"We never met you before." Dean said.

"Your father had his own way of doing things." Justin said carefully. Now was not the time to denigrate their father's memory. That would make him the bad guy.

Sam looked at him not sure if he trusted the man or not. He had no memory of his mother, so he didn't know if this man was a brother to her or just some guy that shared the same parents. He had his own definitions of what brothers were supposed to be, and that was defined by Dean. 

"I can see a bit of your mother in both of you." Justin said and he took a small picture frame from his large coat pocket. "I thought you might want to see something to help you know that I am telling you the truth. I can understand being dubious. We've never met and you have had to be so very careful of people out there helping your father." He said and held out the photo of himself and his two sisters, both dead now. And for that he truly did grieve.

He offered it over to Dean to look at as he knew that Sam would have no memory of Mary. "That was taken just before your mother went to school. She had just started college when she met your father, who was a corporal in the marine corp stationed near by. The other woman was your aunt, Mary was the youngest of us."

Dean took the picture and gripped it with his hands and stared at the face of a woman he had immortalized into an angel in his mind. The one he dreamed about when he was scared and unsure. "It's Mom." He mumbled to Sam. And Justin and another woman were in the picture. "It's definitely Mom." Younger than how he remembered her, but it was their mother.

Sam looked at the photo then back at the man. He supposed he could see it. Maybe the shape of the eyes. But then no one thought he and Dean looked anything alike either. 

"Where I live... is where your mother and I grew up." He told them. "I would like to show you a part of her if I could. I know you didn't get to know her really. Not enough time. " He said, with genuine sadness. "Are you ready to go? Do you want to say your good byes?"

Dean nodded and took Sam's hand as they stood up. A strange man came in and gathered their bags, a servant of Justin's they would find out later. He looked at Erin and Tom. "Thank you." He said politely. For John had raised them to be polite, and this was a time for politeness he supposed. 

Sam merely nodded his agreement with Dean, not once moving more than a few inches from his brother's side, and holding tightly to his hand. 

"Sam hasn't spoken since his father left." Erin told Morningway. She knew that wasn't exactly true, but that was Morningway's problem now, not hers. She had her payoff, he had his nephews and she was rid of the little monsters. Grateful of it too.

"Understandable." Morningway said gravely with a nod. "Thank you for looking after them. I'm sure John appreciated it also." Making sure the boys knew he and John were on the same side, even if they weren't. "Come on." He said to the boys. "We've got a bit of a drive ahead of us." Across Chicago to the other side of the suburbs, where the more affluent lived. And Justin Morningway was definitely affluent.

The doors to the stretch limosine opened and the driver finished putting the bags in the trunk. Dean stared at it for a moment, then led Sam into it. No going back now. Couldn't be any worse than Erin's at least.

"You have a cousin, you know." Justin said as they boys settled in the back. "He's older than you, but he lives with me also. His name is Harry."

Sam looked up at him, wanting to ask questions, but he didn't want to talk. He didn't want to learn to like this man. Cause once he did they would just be sent away again. Not that he wanted to stay at Erin's. He hated it there. Hated every minute. But he hated being sent away more.

"You can ask questions if you want. I promise not to bite." Justin said as they pulled away from the house and started toward the freeway to Chicago. "Or you can tell me about yourselves. When Harry moved in with me, he was your age, Dean. His father had just died as well. It was ... a learning experience with the two of us settling in. I would like things to go more smoothly with us. "

"Sam and I share a room." Dean said. "He doesn't like tomatoes in his salad. Or ranch dressing. He eats ketchup with everything, and likes baths more than showers." Because Sam was easier to cover. Dean had been his caretaker for so long, he wanted the ground rules set.

Justin nodded understandingly. "Alright. Does Sam have a bed time? " He had heard that the boys were living alone in motel rooms while John was hunting his demons. "And what about yourself? What is it you like or want?" He asked. Dean wasn't the one with the gift. That was Sam. Hazards of marrying into the normal world. But that didn't make him any less his nephew, or any less important. His children could have the gift. Especially if he were directed toward the right girl later in life.

"Eight thirty." Dean said and shrugged. "I don't know." He said, he'd never thought about it. "I like video games." He liked the arcade, that was for sure. And cars. And helping his dad with the weapons. He had to pull in a shuddering breath as he thought about his father. It still hurt.

"I think a few video games can be arranged." He said with a nod. "There are some things the two of you need to know. I know that you know about demons and monsters, correct? " He looked from one boy to the other. "But did your father tell you anything about your mother's family... anything about wizards?"

"Dad never talked about Mom's family." Dean said. And John hadn't. The mere mention of Mary seemed to send a physical pain through the man. "Wizards? Like out of books and stuff? Merlin and all that crap?"

"Yes." Justin said with a smile. "Very much like that. The Morningway bloodline is a wizard bloodline. Not everyone in it has the gift... but many of us do." There was no point in making the boy feel like the family freak after all. "You will see many things in our home, people that come and go... things that must be kept very secret. You see there is a rule amongst our kind, that if a person doesn't already know about the supernatural, we are not to tell them. Or show them. Do you understand?"

"We never talked about what we saw or knew." Dean said and looked at Sam. He knew he didn't have any sort of gift. Except the gift of a smart mouth. But Sam...John knew something about Sam, he had to have. "Was our mother special?" His memories of his mother were that of a four year old.

"Your mother would have been special even if she didn't have a gift." He said with a genuine smile. "She didn't want her gift though. Didn't want to be part of that world we grew up in. She could light up a room just by walking into it. The sort of woman everyone wanted to be near."

Dean smiled, his first real smile in weeks. That was the mother he remembered, a golden light of a woman that tucked him in at night. Then it faded. "Something killed our mother. Dad was looking for it. He never found it." But it could find them, he thought.

"It won't get you." Justin said firmly, that paternal sort of firmness that was meant to be reassuring. He had raised Harry after all. He had some experience with traumatized orphan children. "Our home is very safe. And there are things that you both will be taught in order to protect yourselves. Which brings me to another subject... Raithburt... or as Harry calls him... Bob," he rolled his eyes good naturedly at that, "Bob will be your tutor in all things magical and supernatural... including latin and such. Bob however... is a ghost. Not the sort that your hunter friends put to rest. Not a tormented spirit... well... after a fashion... it's a long story but he is bound to his skull. However he is a friend and I will not tolerate any attempt to salt and burn his skull.. no rock salt around the skull.. " He said with a faint smile remembering his own boyish pranks. "He has been with the family for many generations."

Dean looked at him, wide eyed. And blinked. A ghost tutor? That made no sense in his mind. "Umm...okay." He said, because he knew even if he disagreed it would happen anyway. "No burning the skull. Got it. No rock salt around the skull, check. But if we think of anything else, as long as it doesn't, I don't know, unbind him from the skull, it's fair game, right?"

Justin laughed. "We will have to take that on a case by case basis." Boys would play pranks on their tutors. It was the nature of boys. Fortunately, this was a tutor that can't quit. "Just remember he has feelings. So don't be mean in your pranks." He said and looked over at the silent Samuel. "It's going to be alright." He told the boy. "It will take time... loss always takes time to adjust to, to let yourself get past... but it will be alright. You will see."

Sam simply nodded and scooted in closer to Dean. He liked Justin better than Tom and Erin. He didn't seem fake every time he smiled. 

The drive was quiet. Dean really only answered when spoken to, and Sam didn't answer at all. Finally they pulled into the Morningway estate and Dean looked at the mansion as they got out of the limo. It was huge. And old. Did he mention huge?

"This is your house?" Dean asked. It was bigger than any he'd ever seen.

"This is our home, yes." Justin said and led the boys toward the entrance as the driver took their things inside. "This is where your mother grew up. In fact your things are being put in her old room. "

Dean gave him a surprised look at that. "Is it all, you know, girly and stuff?" His mom was a girl after all. And on the cusp of adolescence, it was a valid fear. Of being surrounded by pink and ruffles and lace, no matter if it was his mom's.

"No. It's not all girly and stuff." He said with a smile. "Don't worry about that. We only have a double bed in there at the moment. Will you boys be alright sharing until we can arrange for twins?" He hadn't planned on them wanting to share a room and the house had never really had much use for twin beds.

"We'll be fine." Dean said. Until he could figure out the deal, or worse the con, Sam wasn't leaving his sight. It was how things were going to be, whether this uncle of theirs wanted it or not.

Justin gave the boys the basic tour. Showed them the parlor, the music room, the library, the dining room and the kitchen. And of course the locations of the bathrooms. "This is your class room at least until Samuel finds his voice. " He said "Raithbert? Show yourself." He said standing near to the skull with its ornate mystical patterns.

Raithbert, though he had gotten used to being called Bob, appeared and looked at Justin Morningway. "Yes, sir?" He said, in a bored tone. He looked at Sam and Dean, staring at him wide eyed. "I had thought when Harry was old enough that I would be done...babysitting."

"These are Mary's boys." Justin said. "Dean," he said placing a hand on the older boy's shoulder, "and Samuel, Sam... which does he prefer?" He asked Dean. "He seems to have lost his voice some where along the way. We'll need to be patient." He said.

"Sam." Dean said.

"How quaint." Bob said. "So another boy, two in this case, that I have to teach. My life, or afterlife, is full of trials. I never thought this would be one of them. Never ending tutor, taken for granted, not to mention horribly abused. Boys and their pranks."

"Does he ever stop complaining?" Dean asked.

"If you were condemned to be bound to a skull for all eternity, you might complain also, young man." Bob said.

A smile teased at the corners of Sam's mouth but faded. Bob was amusing. Even if he was complaining all the time, or maybe because he was complaining all the time.

"Nope, he never stops." Came a new voice. Younger, less refined than Justin's. "How ya doin' Bob?" Harry asked as he peeked into the class room. "Who's this?" He looked between Bob and Justin for answers.

"These are Mary's boys. My youngest sister. Dean, and Sam." Justin said. "Boys, this is your cousin, Harry."

"The black sheep of the family, if for no other reason than hygeine." Bob sniffed.

Harry gave Bob a look then ran a finger over the skull, pulling it back to reveal dust. "'nuff said." He told the ghost. "So you boys moving in or just visiting for a while?"

"They're going to stay with us." Justin said. "Your aunt died some time ago, and her husband was lost recently. And we are all family, aren't we?"

""Perhaps their first chore can be to tidy up my living area, as Harry has so politely pointed out." Bob interjected.

"Hey, you were the one that mentioned hygeine. " Harry said and knelt down in front of the boys. "I lost my dad when I was about your age. Came to live here with Uncle Justin. Took a little getting used to but it's pretty alright around here. Once you get settled in, come find me." He said with a grin. "I know all the best places to play in here. " He stood up "And don't let Bob get to you. He's a softie under all that whining."

"I am not a softie. I am ephemeral." Bob said, as he looked up at the ceiling in frustration. "And you boys would be wise not to follow by Harry's example. He's incorrigible."

The antics between Harry and Bob had Dean stifling down a chuckle. But it was amusing.

"Raithbert, back to your skull." Justin said as Bob was absorbed back into the skull. "Let's get you two settled in."

"So hey, I'll see you boys at dinner." Harry said with a genuinely sympathetic smile. He remembered his first days here all too clearly. "Welcome to the family. How you finally got to meet us sucks ass, but.. well you're here, so welcome aboard. " 

"Harry, language." Justin said nodding toward Sam and what he assumed were still delicate ears. Or at least should have been. 

Harry chuckled but looked sheepish. "Sorry kid. So, Uncle Justin, once the boys are up in their room pretending to get settled in... can we talk?"

"Of course, Harry." The older man said. "I will join you there shortly." He then looked to the boys. "Are you ready to see your room?" He asked.

Dean nodded and took Sam's hand again. This place was strange. But it was at least their kind of strange, kinda. And Harry didn't seem fake. Their uncle might be trying too hard but Dean couldn't blame him. They were led to their room and then, when alone, Dean looked at Sam.

"So what do you think?"

Sam looked around the enormous bedroom and shrugged. "It's better than Erin's... and Bob is funny" He said in an almost mumble. "I like Harry, and I think Uncle Justin likes us." He felt a little guilty not thinking it was terrible, or hating their uncle. It was a little like betraying their father's memory to think they could be happy with out him one day. "We could put our last apartment in this room." He added, and noticed that someone had already put their things away for them.

"Yeah we could." Dean said as he looked around too and poked around the room in different drawers and closets. "I think we'll be all right. Dad...Da would want us to be taken care of. We just can't forget him."

"I won't forget him." Sammy said. "Do you think he would have come back for us?" He asked, wanting to believe that more than anything. That their father hadn't abandoned them with those... those people.

"Yeah, he would have." Dean said. And impressed himself with how easy the lie slipped off his tongue. Because he didn't believe that his father would have come back. There was too much finality.

John couldn't tell you when the hunt had started to go wrong. It wasn't in the preparation. It wasn't in tracking down his prey. It wasn't in the execution of the hunt itself.

Not exactly. Unless you count the fact that the moment he walked into the things lair he had two left feet and was all thumbs. His weapons misfired, and his cell phone was dead when he tried to call an ambulance.

It was pure dumb luck that the creature was killed. But it was a miracle that John hadn't died with it. The concussion and blood loss had alone had nearly caused him to wreck the Impala on the way to the emergency room. At least that was what he told himself.

John wasn't entirely sure that he hadn't been jinxed somehow. Or maybe that was the drugs talking. He shifted in the hospital bed until he could reach the telephone and dialed Erin's number, growling in frustration as he got their voice mail for the 3rd time that day. "Yeah, it's John again. Still hoping to talk to the boys. I'll call again later." He said, exhaustion and sadness evident in his voice.

Harry convinced Justin to have dinner on the terrace that night. It was a smaller much more informal, and he didn't think the boys were ready for a formal Morningway dinner. Their idea of being dressed for dinner was probably much like Harry's. Fully clothed with clean hands and face. 

He looked up and grinned at the boys as they were escorted to the table by the house keeper. "Hey, how you two holdin' up?"

"We're...good. Trying not to get lost." Dean admitted with a chuckle as they sat down, and the housekeeper promptly dropped a linen napking on their laps, which he looked at strangely.

"I spent my first two weeks here lost." Harry said with a grin.

"That was the excuse he used for being late to everything, anyway." Justin supplied with a smile as he took his seat. "Is your room to your liking?" He asked.

Sam nodded. He almost spoke but then simply returned to staring at his plate.

Dean looked at his brother and saw the nod. "They're good." He said as he moved his food around, eating some, moving more. This was a strange place after all.

"I was thinking maybe we'd get a movie in tonight." Justin said. "I have an entertainment room, any movie you want to see, I can get."

It had been a long time since they had watched a movie, at least by Sam's reckoning. Part of him wanted to watch a movie and forget for a little while, but part of him just wanted to crawl into his bed and cry. His father wasn't coming back. It wasn't just a fear any more. John Winchester was really gone. 

So Sam did what he always did when in conflict with himself, he looked to Dean to take the lead. 

Dean looked at Sam, and knew how he felt. Conflicted. But, there was still impressions to be made so, he looked at Justin and Harry.

"Okay." He said. "We like Lethal Weapon." They'd seen it on a motel TV screen on HBO and thought it was cool.

Justin looked to Harry, he hadn't see those films. Not really his cup of tea. Harry looked thoughtful. "Well... if they have been raised by a hunter, it's not likely a little gunfire is going to have a bad influence." He said with a shrug. "I can go pick up the movie but some one else is gonna have to run the VCR. I don't do high tech... I'm the reason there are rotary phones in the house." He said with a laugh.

"And the reason we have people hired to work even a microwave." Justin said with a good humored sigh. "All right, Lethal Weapon it is, I'll have the cook make popcorn." He doubted he'd be watching the movie. Because it wasn't his cup of tea, but he'd make it as enjoyable for them as possible. The quicker they felt comfortable with him, the easier things would go.

"So, you two wanna stay here or go with me to get the movie?" Harry asked as he finished his food. Harry knew how easy it would be to let the grief over take them, and how easy it would be to let the boys deal with that grief on their own terms. But Harry also knew that grief never really went away. You just got better at making it through the day without breaking. And the sooner you got on doing normal things, the easier it was to move on. And the boys had to move on. Even if they thought they didn't want to.

Dean looked at Sam, then at Justin, and then at Harry. "We'll go with." He said. He liked driving, even if it was as a passenger right now. "Then we can make sure you get the right Lethal Weapon."

Harry laughed "What ever you say kid. Come on" He said, wiping his hands on his napkin then standing "you two ever been to Chicago before?" he asked and Sam shook his head. "Oh man, you are gonna love this town."

Justin chuckled softly. "I will leave you children to get to know each other." Harry was only 20 after all, and he seemed to have a rapport with the children already. That was good. It would make it much easier on them.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Notes: This is a cross over between Supernatural and the Dresden Files. Even more, we've picked out elements from both the books and the TV Series of the Dresden Files that we liked best. It starts shortly after Samuel is attacked by the Shtriga in Season One of Supernatural in "Something Wicked." It's completely pre-cannon in both versions of the Dresden Files. Yes, we are definitely in AU.

Two years later...

Dean was sitting in the headmaster's office, his feet tapping as he slumped in the chair, his head back and looking at the ceiling. He'd be whistling, but his lip was split. His dress shirt messed, a tear in his pants and who knew where the tie was. The blazer escaped injury because he'd thrown it off before the fight.

And the head master did not know what to do with him. So he waited for his custodian, Justin Morningway, to arrive.

"Mr. Morningway, I'm sorry to have bothered you." He quickly said, knowing how busy Morningway was. "But your nephew seems to have gotten into another fight."

There was no question which nephew it was. For Sam went to a different school, the same school he'd started out in.

Justin sighed and looked over at Dean. Over all, Dean Winchester was a good boy. There was probably some reason that he fought with the other boy. Some reason that would make sense to a 13 year old with so much anger inside. "What happened?" He asked his nephew.

Dean rolled his eyes over to Justin. He knew he was in trouble now. But it wasn't like he was a loose cannon beating the crap out of people for no reason. "He called my mother a whore." Normal smack talk for thirteen year olds. But no one talked about Dean's mother like that. She was a saint in his eyes. "And he wouldn't take it back until I made him."

"Not to say that I am condoning Dean's actions, but is that the sort of children that attend this school? Those who defame the dead? " He shook his head. "I think we are through here." He said with a sigh. "Is the other boy badly hurt?" He asked, thinking that perhaps Dean needed to be schooled at home. There would be other children for him to become friends with. Children of other families like theirs, that would understand the boy's unique situation.

The headmaster sighed. "He's in the ER. From what I heard the boy's jaw might have to be wired shut."

"Good. Then he'll keep his mouth shut." Dean said and was silenced by a look from Justin.

Part of him very much approving of Dean's way of thinking. It was very cut throat in some ways, even though he was one of the most gentle boys he had ever met in the right situation. However, there were better applications than his fists. "Tell the boys parents to send me the bill." He moved to open the door. "I will send someone around to clear Dean's things out of his locker. Come along, Dean."

Dean slung his backpack over his shoulder and followed Justin out. "I tried." He told the older man. "But once they start on my mother, all bets are off." Because that's how he felt. And all the therapy in the world couldn't get rid of that angry core at Dean's center.

Justin nodded once more. "I know." He said. He didn't say anything more during the drive. He was intentionally letting Dean stew for a few minutes longer. And he had to consider what to do next very carefully.

The driver didn't take them back to the estate, rather he took them to the downtown sky scraper that also bore the Morningway name. He led the boy through the building and up the ornate elevator. Eventually taking him into the board room and closing the door behind them.

Dean sighed and put his book bag on one of the chairs against the wall, where the secretaries sat to take dictation and notes. "Am I going to have to file papers again?" He had to do that when he got thrown out of the school two before this one. He hated that. Besides, he'd ended up conning someone else to help him. He knew he'd majorly disappointed his uncle, this was the fifth school he'd been thrown out, or asked to leave from. It wasn't that he wasn't smart, in some ways he was too smart for his own good.

"I am still considering what your punishment will be, but for now I want you to come here and take a seat." He said and indicated the chair that HE usually sat in. He waited for Dean to do as he asked and then he took the chair to his right.

"I know that around the house, there is a lot of talk of the mystical side of the Morningway family. Spells, incantations, latin lessons. A lot of fuss is made over Samuel's gifts. " He said. "But that is only half of the Morningway legacy. This is the other half. " He said and patted the arm of the chair Dean sat in. "This seat. Although I suppose it will become the Winchester legacy after I am gone. You see, Samuel... he and Harry share very similar qualities, and not just in the magical realm. Sadly those qualities do not make them suited to sit in that chair when I am gone. But you, Dean... you could very easily fill that seat when I am gone. There are qualities in you that could take you, and through you, this family, so very far in the world. But you have to want it... and you have to be willing to do one of the hardest things in the world. You have to conquer yourself. " He told him. "You cannot control the world around you, until you learn to control yourself. What you feel inside isn't wrong, Dean. It's natural and normal. Especially at your age. But how you react to those feelings... how you chose to retaliate, that is where you are falling short of the mark. You are letting these boys win. Even though he is in the hospital getting his jaw wired shut, that boy had your number, Dean. He knew what button to push to make you give up control."

Dean deflated. Justin was right, he lost control. Even if he couldn't quite explain the freedom from everything inside him he had at that moment. When that first punch was thrown and Derek shut his damn mouth. He felt bad that Derek was going to be eating out of a straw for the next few months, but he had it coming. He really did.

Dean just felt sometimes like he didn't fit in. At all. At school, he remembered what it was like to be broke. Sleeping in the Impala until his father came up with the money for a hotel room. At home, he was about as magical as a cereal box. He remembered when Harry took him skeet shooting a couple weekends back. He hit every target. But couldn't make feather levitate. He was just Dean, the ordinary one everyone tolerated because Sam was there.

But even at thirteen, with his lip swelling and his hands hurting from punches thrown, he knew what his uncle was offering him. A place to fit in and call his own when the day was done.

"I'll try harder." He said. To control that teenage rage that could boil out at the slightest provocation.

"I know you will." Justin said. "I have faith in you. I think for the remainder of this year you will be tutored at home. 6 hours a day 5 days a week of Bob should be more than enough punishment for anyone." He said teasing lightly. "Then next year... your freshman year in high school, we will try again. "

"Okay." Dean said and nodded. Took a breath and released it. "But he did deserve a broken jaw. I'm not backing down from that, and don't think you can make me apologize for that either." Just in case his uncle had that crazy idea in mind.

"I am hardly going to have you apologize to someone that insulted my baby sister." He said. "I'm paying for the boy's medical care. It's all they are getting." He motioned for Dean to gather his things. "However I will not be so understanding the next time you lose your temper. I'm not going to say that words can't hurt you. They are the most hurtful things in the world. But there are other ways than violence to exact retribution. Ways that last a good deal longer. But that's a lesson for another day."

"Sounds like a lesson less likely to get me expelled." Dean said with a chuckle as he got his backpack. "Sam should be home soon. He's going to laugh his ass off about this one." Dean getting thrown out of another school, and the boy in the ER. He'd leave out why the kid had gotten the crap beat out of him in the first place.

"Oh I am certain he will." Justin said with a smile.

Sam was found much as one might expect on a school day, in their old class room, doing homework of a different sort. Equations that had nothing to do with math. He looked up when Dean and Justin entered the room. "Hi." He said smiling at them, then frowned seeing Dean's busted lip "What happened?" He didn't like the thought of anyone hitting his brother, of course he also knew the other guy probably looked a lot worse, but that wasn't the point.

Dean tossed his bookbag onto a chair and sat down next to Sam. "Decided I needed a change of scenery, didn't much like his face." Dean said with a grin. Coming off as flippant and arrogant, but he wasn't going to tell Sammy what the kid had said about their mother. "Hey, Bob." He said to the ghost. Who barely refrained from rolling his eyes. The boys had picked up on Harry's most unfortunate nickname for him. 

"Where will you be going to school this time?" Sam asked as he closed his note book, prototype grimoire really. Something he took to easily enough since he had watched his father keep a journal for most of his life.

"Here." Justin supplied for him. "The remainder of this year Dean will be home schooled, and then go back to school for high school, and hopefully he will not repeat Harry's mistake of dropping out." 

"Sir." Bob said, floating quickly over to Justin. "The boy has no magical talent. And I am not an algebra teacher."

"Actually, I'm up to geometry now." Dean said with a grin.

"Certainly you are far more educated than the average junior high teacher." Morningway scoffed. "Of course I could hire in that nice young Japanese man. Although his latin is atrocious."

"Dean would chew that nice young man up and spit him out." Bob said in a bored tone. "Fine. While Samuel is in school, I will be more than happy to participate in his brother's punishment."

"Come on, Bob. We might have a little fun." Dean said with a chuckle.

"Somehow I doubt that."

Sam laughed. He figured Dean would be the one dealing out punishment not Bob. "And we can do our latin studies right after I get home so Dean is done instead of waiting around for the end. " Sam liked Latin. He liked it better than some of the other stuff. He was good at the magic stuff, but he liked things that he and Dean could do together. Besides, Dean had to know some of this stuff too if they were going to find what ever creature it was that killed their Dad... not to mention the one that killed their mom.

Dean ruffled Sam's hair. "Exactly. And that's why you're the smart one in the family." He said with a grin.

"He's a good student, Raithbert. Just a little...hormonal right now." Justin said with a small laugh. "He just needs time to calm down, and a calming influence to make him apply himself."

"My afterlife is a pitiful excuse for an existence." Bob said mournfully.

"Harry was right. You never stop complaining. " Sam said. "So are we done for now I have a science project due and I want to at least have a few minutes to play before bed tonight."

Bob went and looked over Sam's shoulder at what he had written and nodded approvingly. "You may go." He said. The assignment was done. Sam was coming along quicker than expected, and for that Bob was pleased. Not that anyone could tell. 

"Come on Dean." Sam said excitedly as he put away his books and tools. "You can help me with it... not ... do it for me help me... but you know... help me." In other words come spend time with me with out all these other people around, I missed you all day. Sam had friends at his school. He wasn't the most popular kid, but he wasn't an outcast either. It still wasn't the same as spending time with his brother. He started rattling off what he was making and all the reasons why he was doing it the way he was doing it.

Dean nodded, he'd done a similar project years ago. So he told Sam about the cool projects he'd seen his classmates do, since he had done the bare minimum for a bare minimum grade. "But your idea sounds cooler." He said to his brother, picking up some of the paints in Sam's room. He'd help paint the posterboard for the presentation.

"So... was he pissed?" Sam asked as he started setting things up to put them together, going over everything twice before actually beginning. "Last time he was really pissed. "

"Nah, he wasn't so bad this time." Dean said. "I don't know, maybe high school will be easier. We'll see. I hated that school anyway, bunch of stuck up snobs who thought they were better than everyone else."

That was what Dean said about all of the schools he was no longer attending. He wished his brother had been able to settle in as well as he had. He felt a little guilty for fitting in with the crowd that Dean hated so much. "It will be. Maybe he could let you go to a regular school since you don't like private school at all." Sam liked it because he could do things there that he wouldn't be able to do at a public school. Mostly because they didn't make fun of him for being smart.

"Maybe. The only thing private school has going for it is the uniforms. For the girls anyway." He was getting at the age where girls were forefront in his mind. And where boys were forefront in girls' minds, and they often hitched their skirts up higher than they should normally fall. "But for a few months it's gonna be me and Bob. Bob and me. Should be fun."

Sam laughed. "Don't get him too riled up. Cause then I have to listen to him whine for two hours a day. " He said shaking his head. "Which isn't always as funny as you would think." Sam could have used magic to work on his project. It wasn't cheating according to his uncle, it was just using all of his gifts and talents to get the job done. But it was a lot more fun to do it with Dean. Not to mention the fact that he didn't like using his powers in front of Dean except in class cause then it was like showing off. Dean couldn't do the things Sam could, and he didn't want to make him feel bad. Justin and Harry might be relatives, but Dean was his family.

"I bet. Luckily I escaped the extra classes." Dean said with a grin. "There is an upshot to being the freak in the family after all. Besides, I work on other things when you're levitating and making things blow up. Uncle Justin's latest thing is trying to get me to express my emotions in a much more positive, productive way." Martial arts and personal trainers, to try to get Dean to expell some of his endless energy.

"You're not a freak... you're... you're the normal guy in a family of freaks." Sam said with a grin, but the grin faded a little. "I don't make you feel like a freak, do I?" He could tell things were still eating at Dean. Things he himself had dealt with and started moving on. Harry was the same way. His father's death ate at him still. He wondered if it would always eat at his brother. Heady thoughts for a 9 year old boy, but he worried about Dean and always would, just as he knew Dean would always worry about him.

"Dude, I'm fine." Dean said with a laugh. "You got your magic wand thing, I got a nasty right hook. It evens out. Trust me." Because not everything could be solved with magic after all. Even he knew that.

Sam smiled, relaxing then. It was the laugh that had convinced him.

Justin knocked on the door and peeked his head in. "I'm going to be out of town for a few days. Harry will be home though. Try not to give him to hard a time."

"Who? Us?" Dean said with a grin. He liked it when Harry stayed with them while Justin was out of town. "We would never give anyone a hard time. Really, Uncle Justin. Age is catching up to you, dude."

Justin laughed. "I will see you at dinner Monday night. There will be people coming to dinner. Dress for dinner, not casual. We'll talk more then." He said and left the room, heading down to get into the limo. He had a lead on John Winchester and wanted to make sure that all of his carefully lain plans stayed that way. 

It had taken some doing, but he finally found John Winchester. Doing what he did best, which was make a huge mess out of a simple situation. But Justin watched for a bit, John could fight physically. He'd give the ex-Marine that, at least. Nothing more of course. And certainly not his sons, especially since they were settled in nicely, and Justin had plans for the both of them.

He had it in his power to make Dean and Sam Winchester powerful men, in different ways of course, but powerful all the same. What could John offer them that could equal that? At his mansion, they were in no danger, and were being properly educated for the roles they would fill in the future. John might be their father, but all he had to offer them was a life as grifters and con men. On the edges of society instead of grabbing it in their hands and controlling it as they saw fit. It really was for the boys' own good that John remain dead. So to speak.

And it would be so easy to make it a fact, right here, right now. Just let the wendigo finish John off, and walk away. But he wanted to break John. Into a million little pieces while his body lived. Because this man had stolen his baby sister, then failed to protect her. That was unforgivable. Now, the last pieces of Mary were safe and sound. And they would stay that way.

He waited until the creature made a fatal swipe with its claws and slammed his walking stick down, erecting a shield around himself and John. Just in time.

"Should you finish this or should I?" He asked John, who laid on the ground he was knocked to.

John looked over at the wizard and scowled. "Knock yourself out." He said, wishing that the bastard had left him alone and let the Wendigo finish him. He rolled over and got to his feet. The last man he wanted to see was his brother in law.

"Suit yourself." Justin said, and lowered the shield. Said a few words, and pointed his walking stick at the wendigo. Then, there was no wendigo. He looked John over. "You look...I'd say well, but we both know I'd be lying. I'll buy you dinner. We have to talk." He said as he brushed his expensive coat off. There were no places in town that he would usually eat in, but John, as he was right now, couldn't go into any of those places anyway.

"Just get it over with, Morningway. I don't need your charity and can't stand your company" He said bluntly as he started hiking back toward his truck.

Justin followed, he wasn't in the same shape John was, but he knew a few tricks. "Fine, Winchester. I thought we could have a civilized conversation about the boys. You can't keep dragging them around the countryside you know, chasing after everything that goes bump in the night. And I know you won't send them to me. Thought we could compromise on boarding school." 

John stopped dead in his tracks. Justin couldn't have hurt him more if he had physically struck him. It took him a moment to catch his breath. "The... the boys are gone. If they are why you are here, you can leave now." 

Justin moved in front of John. "What are you talking about?" He said, shocked. "What do you mean they're gone? Start talking, Winchester, these are my nephews you're talking about."

"They're my sons. Get off your damned high horse." He said then with a pained sigh, told Justin what had happened. "They just... took off with my children and no one has been able to find them since." The pain in the man's eyes was unmistakable.

Justin was glad for the pain in his eyes. And planned to rub it in. "Took off? And you're hunting wendigos instead of trying to find them? I knew I should have fought you for them after Mary died. Because you couldn't protect them anymore than you could her." 

"It's been two god damned years. Do you think I haven't been looking? " He paused hating that it had come to this, to asking this man for help. "Do you think you can find them?" He had to ask. Had to know if it was possible. He ached inside at the lost of his children. The guilt at losing them and his wife.

"How...how could you lose them? They weren't a pair of shoes in the back of your truck. You left them somewhere, didn't you? Thinking you were smart, and something happened with those...hunter...friends of yours, didn't it? Dammit, John!" Justin said, taking off his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I can't believe you did that. Mary trusted you to look out for them!"

"Don't you dare toss my wife's name around like a weapon! She didn't want those boys with you. Hell, she didn't want to be there herself. She left all that power and magic behind to have a normal life. You don't get to use her any more." He said running his hand through his hair. "They were supposed to keep them for a little while. A shtriga almost got to them, and I wanted to make sure they were safe. Got hurt bad enough to be in the hospital, by the time I got out they were gone. House was vacant. They're alive out there somewhere. They have to be."

"Did you even know these people that you dropped them off with?" Justin demanded. "And Mary may not have wanted her legacy, but she wanted her boys safe. Where were you when they were almost killed?"

"Coming in the door to stop it." He growled. "And I had known them somewhat. Or I thought I had." He ran his hands through his hair. "You didn't answer me.. can you find them? Is that magic of yours good for anything other than grandstanding?"

"You know I need something of theirs to trace." Justin growled back. "It's an energy, a force. Not some illusion to whip out of thin air to relieve your own guilty conscience. Coming in to stop it. So you left them probably in some seedy motel room while you went on your own little useless mission."

"They aren't useless missions." John said to defend himself. As much to himself as to Justin. "Someone has to do it... someone has to fight this fight or they win... the bastard that took Mary from us wins." He reached the truck and opened the door to let the dog out, fishing through his things "I left all their things with them at the house. You can't use a picture or anything like that?" He asked, thinking how useless such power was if it couldn't be used to find the people that mattered.

"You know I can't. Because you want me to track down their mystical energy. Having never met the boys personally, and who's fault is that?, I don't have anything to go on unless you give me something." He stepped out of the dog's path as it went to relieve itself against a tree. "A dog. You've managed to keep better track of a damn dog than your own children. So tell me, John, is this mission of yours worth it? Did you even report them missing to the police?"

John glared at him."The dog was for the boys. But they were gone." He said and shook his head, fighting the urge to punch Justin in his sanctimonious mouth. But he knew his brother in law. That would just wind up with him in jail. "Dean always wanted a dog..." he said raggedly giving into the despair of it all once more. He drowned out the nagging voice in his head... Mary's voice tell him how he had failed their family ... with the hunt and Jose Cuervo.

"Did you report them missing to the police?" Justin asked again, knowing that John hadn't. And it was too late now to do so. But it just rubbed salt in the wound a little more.

"No... Damn it. NO!" He couldn't. Not that someone like Justin would ever understand why that wasn't possible. Too many questions that he couldn't answer with out making things worse.

Not that they could get much worse.

Justin leaned against his car, mournful and tired. "Then they are lost." He said softly before turning a glare on his brother in law. "And it's your fault, John Winchester. It's your fault my sister is dead, and it's your fault that my nephews are scattered to the wind. We don't even know if they're alive or dead...because of you. Think on that for the rest of your God damned days."

John whistled and the dog came running back and hopped into the truck. He turned his gaze onto his brother in law. "Do you really think you're telling me anything I don't know? " He said quietly. "Either way, they're probably better off no where near either of us." Mary had told him the sort of man her brother was. A loving man yes, but dark and domineering. Twisted in some ways. That was why he never took him up on the offer to raise the boys. "Move that status symbol out of my way." He said indicating the limo, his tone making it clear how much he disapproved of Justin's display of wealth.

"John, I hope you live a long and miserable life with what you've thrown away hanging over your head before you finally rot in hell." Justin said as the driver quickly came around the car to open the door for his employer. Justin didn't give John another look as he settled in the backseat. "Airport, please." Not allowing a smile to spread across his face until the limo had pulled away.

John had no intention of living a long life. He intended to die like every other hunter in existence. Hard, and young. He would have died tonight if Justin hadn't come along to conveniently rub salt in his wounds.

"Hey buddy. Ready to go find the next bad guy..." He asked the dog as he started his truck. "Me too." He said and looked into the rear view mirror. "Me too."

Justin was still smiling as they neared the airport. Then he reached for the car phone and called his personal secretary. "Margot? Look up breeders and see if there's a litter to be born soon. A dog, something small but not yappy. It's to keep my nephew out of trouble." Because that sounded good. "If Dean can concentrate on housebreaking a puppy, instead of where his next fight is coming from, I might be able to keep the boy in school." Margot was his personal secretary, she was well aware of the inner workings of the Morningway family. From Harry dropping out against his uncle's wishes, to Dean's extremely high expulsion rate from extremely expensive schools. Her loyalty was unquestionable, and she never spoke unless spoken to.

"I will look into it, sir." She said, then proceeded to give him his messages and reminders. "Is there anything else, Sir?"

"Schedule a stockholder meeting for Tuesday, eleven o'clock. Have an extra chair in the boardroom, I plan to have Dean attend." So he could see the power that could be his. "Remind the boys, all of them," including Harry, "about dinner on Monday. That should be all."

"Yes sir." She said and that ended the phone call. She called the house to remind Harry, and thus the boys about dinner on Monday. dinner with guests that she couldn't begin to comprehend the magnitude of. Members of the White Council were coming to dinner. 

Harry in turn swore. And apologized, before hanging up. "I forgot about dinner tomorrow night. You boys have your extra snobby clothes all clean and pressed right?"

Dean scowled. "I don't know why I have to go." He said. "Not like they pay any attention to me anyway." He knew, more or less, who was going.

"On the contrary." Bob said, looking down his ephemeral nose at the boys. "Even the White Council needs a good financial front to it. So, making nice with all the Morningways is a good idea, politically."

"Bob's right. Besides, trust me, you want to know everyone that comes sniffing around your family." Harry said. "And the White Council ... they do a lot of sniffing."

Sam smiled, shaking his head in amusement. He loved his cousin. It had been Harry that had finally lured Sam out of his shell. And it was eventually Harry that convinced the boy that if HE hadn't been kicked to the curb by the blue blooded Justin Morningway, there was no way that Sam and Dean would be. Although the first time Dean had gotten himself expelled, Sam had been afraid that the man would send his brother away. Now there was no such fear. This was their home now. They were welcomed and loved, and even though he missed his father desperately, they were in a good place.

"Fine, we'll be on our best behavior." Dean said. "No whoopee cushions, no Ex-Lax in the drinks, cayenne pepper in place of black pepper...man it's going to be a boring night."

Harry laughed. "You'll be fine. Once dinner itself is over, you two can go find something else to do while I get stuck with the boring conversations." 

"That's the price you pay for being an adult, the older, wiser cousin, and all." Dean said witih a grin. "I'd rather do homework than get stuck there."

"Then you'll be luck. I'll assign you a lot." Bob said.

"Kid, didn't I warn you about that?" Harry asked. "You gotta watch what you say in front of Bob... You'll find yourself conjugating latin until dawn if you aren't careful."

"What a brilliant idea, Harry. That will certainly keep the young man out of trouble, won't it?" Bob said.

"Gee, thanks." Dean said. "Only if I get to conjugate the cool swear words."

Harry laughed. "Go on and get cleaned up. Sam and I have to do a little shopping, you can come along if you want. "

"We do?" Sam asked.

"Yep... we need to find something discreet for you to use as a wand and I figure that means a trip to the mall."

"Oh thank god I get to skip that part of the whole family bonding." Dean said with a laugh as he went to clean up. "Come on, Sam, let's try to think of something. Gotta be something you can use, right?"

Sam nodded and followed his brother. "I don't know what to get. I have been trying to figure it out for a week now. Harry uses a drum stick and Bob thinks it looks silly, but Bob doesnt get out much."

"Bob should get out more." Dean said. "We'll figure something out, that's why we're going, right?" He said as they grabbed their jackets and headed down to meet Harry. "I'm more afraid of making it there, what with his car and all."

"He had to replace the hood the other day. So now the only thing that's blue is the frame." Sam said, wrinkling his nose. "But he would short circuit the computer in a newer car. I hope I don't wind up like that."

"So do I. Because then you'll be driving around in a not so Blue Beetle." Dean said with a laugh as they headed over to the garage. "Then I'd have to make fun of you for, like, ever."

"You are such a jerk." Sam said with a laugh as they approached the bug. "It looks like someone tried to squash it." He told harry as he looked at the dents in the back end. "You pissed off that troll again, didn't you?"

Harry scowled, but some how it wasn't convincing. "Get in, you two, before I decide to drive back over the bridge and see if he wants a couple of naughty boys for his stew pot."

Sam giggled. "Trolls don't cook their food silly."

"So, trolls, faeries, werewolves...do you find any time for a real girl, Harry?" Dean asked with a grin. "Or is it all work and no play for a wizard? Am I really expected to pick up all the slack around here?"

"You are too young to be picking up anything." Harry pointed out as he opened the door for them, letting them crawl inside before he struggled to get it closed once more.

He drove to the mall, with all the parts still on the car, no matter how much Dean anticipated otherwise. "So where shall we look first?"

"Maybe some duct tape for the car." Dean said with a laugh. "Come on, Sam, let's just wander. The whole point is not to look for something in particular but whatever catches your eye, right?" He knew what would catch his eye, so he planned to direct the tour of the mall by the food court. That's where all the teenage girls hung out as they pretended to eat.

"Okay." Sam said, happy to spend a little time just running around with his brother. There was always something to do, some expectation to fulfill, classes during and after school. There wasn't alot of time to just go and hang out. "But I want to go to Barnes and Noble before we leave."

"Sure." Dean said as they wandered. Then they wandered into a Toys R Us. "I got it Sam!" Dean said and held up a Star Wars light saber. "Come on, it's perfect. All the kids have them, right? So you're not weird if you have one. Plus it collapses into something portable, but extends into something long and pointy. It's perfect, right?"

Sam grinned. "What do you think, Harry?" He asked, liking the idea.

Harry looked at it. "I like it... it's good for now... Uncle Justin will roll his eyes and do a Bob imitation for a while but if it sings to you ... it's the one."

Sam's dark eyes sparkled and he nodded. It was extra cool because it was Dean that picked it out for him.

"Okay." Harry said. "Well... go and enjoy the store... we're not buying it out, keep it down to a dull roar." He said staying near the doors, not wanting to disrupt the electronics in the store. 

"Come on, Sam, I want to get a few video games before we go get books for you." Dean said with a chuckle as they headed off to the gaming department. Dean excelled at first person shooter games, so those were more or less the kind he stuck to. Then it was off to Barnes and Nobles for Sam to get his literature fix.

Soon they were finished and Harry was waiting for them in the food court. "Okay... keep the junk food binge to a minimum... you are not going to want to be stuffed at dinner. "

"Dinner of lobster, crab cakes and pate?" Dean said, making a face. "Think I'll gorge on tacos, thank you very much." He said with a chuckle. When Justin wanted them to dress for dinner, usually meant some fancy food that Dean actually didn't much care for. Plus there was just so much ceremony involved in it all.

"Yeah I didn't like it either when I was your age... then I met Claudia Sutherland. The girl lived for fancy dress dinners and for two years between 14 and 16 I lived to watch her eat them. Sometimes the council brings their families."

"I'm still eating now." Dean said as he went to the taco place and got a half dozen tacos. "Sammy, you want a few?" He offered his brother.

Sam nodded "Oh yeah." He said, and Harry laughed.

An hour later they unpacked the car and headed inside with just enough time for Harry to get ready for the arrival of the guests. He was expected to be much more social than the boys were. They had a little time to unwind as yet, although he told them to hurry and save him from boredom.

"Come on, Sam." Dean said. Though by now they were in separate rooms, their rooms were right next door to each other. "Let's go ditch the stuff and take our time getting into our dress clothes."

Sam had barely finished dressing when he and Dean were summoned down to the parlor. It was time to meet the guests. He was nervous. He knew that his uncle had high expectations for him and these people were part of those expectations. "You ready for this?" He asked his brother.

"Dude, they're not coming to see me." Dean pointed out with a grin as he straightened Sam's tie. "But I got your back, don't worry." He knew he was a side show in this family. That was fine. He kinda liked being able to play video games and work the microwave.

Sam smiled up at his brother and started down the stairs toward the parlor.

"Ah, here they are." Justin said beaming at the boys as they came down the stairs. "My nephews, Samuel and Dean Winchester." He would have changed their name if he thought they would allow it, but Dean was too much a Winchester, and Sam was very much Dean's brother.

They shook hands with their uncle's guests, and from that simple contact, the guests decided which nephew they wanted to concentrate on. Which suited Dean just fine as he went over to the bar to get a soda, keeping Sam in sight and an ear on the conversation. The great thing about being disregarded was that it left you wide open to watch everything and everyone. Strange lesson for a thirteen year old, but one that Dean knew anyway. He knew enough about magic and wizardry to step in and guide the conversation if Sam got overwhelmed. He was only nine. It could happen so easily, so Dean watched for it, nodding a bit to his uncle to let the older man know that Dean was watching out for his brother.

Justin was pleased with both of his nephews. Together the would be a formidable pair in the world. He looked up as the last of his guests arrived. "Branwen." He said going to greet the stately blonde. Branwen Moore was one of those women that men thought they wanted, but in truth should run from as quickly as possible. She had been trying to merge with the Morningway line for years. It seemed tonight was no different. "So who is this lovely young lady?" He asked looking at the small girl beside Branwen, a miniature of her mother.

"Justin." Branwen said, receiving the greeting accordingly. "This is my daughter, Jessica. Normally I don't bring her about, these things can be so tiresome for children, but she's about the age of one of your nephews. Thought they could keep each other entertained." She said with a pleasant smile. "Jessica, say hello to Mr Morningway."

"Hello, Mr Morningway." Jessica said, as prompted, in a soft voice.

"Hello Jessica. Would you like to meet my nephew?" He asked, it couldn't hurt for the children to get to know one another. They would have to deal with each other in the future and friendships forged now could last a lifetime. "Samuel?" He called out and waved for the boy to come join him. "Samuel, this is Jessica. Jessica, this is Samuel. "

"Hi." Sam said smiling at the young girl. Finally a kid that was like him...or he thought she was at least.

"Hi." Jessica said a bit shyly, but smiled, lighting up her face in a way that a smile never lit up her mother's, who was standing by watchfully. Dean, over by the bar, cocked his head and watched also.

"Samuel, it's a while until dinner. Why don't you show Miss Moore around?" Justin suggested. Because however they came to know each other, Justin would feel better if it weren't under Branwen's influence.

"Okay." Sam said, grateful to be out from under the gaze of all the strangers that wanted to talk to him and sort out what he could and couldn't do. "Come on. I can show you around. " He didn't know what would be fun to Jessica. His favorite room was the library. But most kids weren't that into books.

"Okay!" Jessica said, with enthusiasm. Sitting around, all dressed up like a doll, listening to grown ups talk didn't sound like much fun when her mother had said under no certain terms, that she was coming to this dinner. But there was a boy her age here, so it couldn't be that bad.

Sam walked slowly and with as much dignity as a 9 year old boy in an uncomfortable suit can manage, then once out side the parlor, turned and grinned at Jessica. "Come on." He said and started to run, always sure to check that she was keeping up.

Jessica had to stop and take off her dress shoes, which had a slight heel she wasn't comfortable running in, but once she did she caught up with him, golden hair streaming behind her. "Where are we going?" She asked with a grin.

"The tower." He said. "Dean and I play there sometimes. It's really cool with all the stained glass and a big balcony all the way around the outside. Just like in the movies and stuff."

"Wow." She said as they reached it. "We live in a townhouse." A huge townhouse, but a townhouse. Nothing like this balcony that was for sure. "You can see forever up here."

"I like it up here. Especially at night when everyone else is asleep. But don't tell, Dean would be pissed. He thinks I'm a little kid still." Sam admitted. Sam perceived his age in direct comparison to Dean at his age, not in comparison to other children he had gone to school with. Dean had been his primary care giver when he was Sam's age, and Sam thought he should be afforded the same amount of trust and responsibility. Translation..., he didn't think he was a little kid no matter what everyone else said.

Jessica giggled at that. "I promise, I won't tell." She said as she leaned on the banister and looked out. She was an only child, and a coveted spoiled child at that. She had no frame of reference for understanding how the Winchesters had spent their early years. "My mom thinks I'm a kid. Or a doll. I don't think she's figured out which yet."

"I never had a mom." Sam said. "At least not so that I would remember. She died when I was a baby. But with what all my friends tell me... sometimes I think moms are weird. Bob says that's because I grew up with nothing but guys around." 

"No, moms are weird." Jessica said with another laugh. "Or at least my mom is. And my friends' moms. They're all weird too. So, yeah, moms are weird. I know they like to go shopping, which is boring. Ooh and sit in a chair and get their hair done. See? Weird."

"Very weird. But I enjoyed shopping today. I got a lightsaber to turn into my wand." He said. "Dean picked it out for me. He got video games though. He doesn't make them fry out or anything. Hopefully that won't happen to me for a few years yet cause I really like video games."

"Well, that's different. That's real shopping." Jessica said, there was a difference in a child's mind. 'Real' shopping occurring in a toy store. "I use an actual wand. Well, not really. I got it with a doll, it's got a star that lights up on the end of it." Like millions of other little girls had.

"Easier to hide if everyone has one." He said with a shrug. "I'm still getting used to all this magic stuff." He admitted. "It's kinda cool though." He didn't think his Dad would have liked it much. But his Dad had left them and then died. It wasn't like he really had a say anymore.

"It's way cool once you get going in it." Jessica said. "Not fond of the lessons after school though. Like I don't go to school enough. I like school, but sometimes I just want to play, you know?"

Sam nodded. "Me too. I usually get a little while to play after class. Does your tutor come out of a skull too? Or am I still the weird kid on the block?" He asked with a smile

"Nope, you're the weird kid on the block." She teased. "Mine is human, and smells funny. But she definitely likes a few hours right after school. I don't have a brother to get me out of it all, remember! I'm all on my own."

"That would suck. " Sam said in all sincerity. He couldn't imagine life with out his brother there. Being really alone in the world would ... would be heart breaking.

"It does." Jessica said. "But my nanny likes me, so I get away with a lot I guess." Her mother was often busy finding suitable bloodlines to merge with, after all.

"I don't have a nanny or anything." And for that Sam was grateful. "Dean takes care of me." There was always an adult in the house after all, even if they weren't in charge of the boys, they were there if the two of them needed anything. Or if there was an emergency. But it wasn't the same as having a nanny or a baby sitter.

"Must be cool to have a brother then." Jessica said. "How long until they miss us, do you think?"

"Probably already are. Dinner and all. But we can probably go play when it's done. Dean and I have some board games and stuff."

"Great!" Jessica said. "My mom will probably want to talk to the Council and all." Really, Jessica only had a vague understanding of everything that went on in these dinners, but enough to know that grown ups tended to talk. A lot.

Sam had a better idea of what was going on at the meetings. He wasn't a naive child, even though he should have been. He had seen too much of the darkness long before coming to live with his uncle. Justin and Bob didn't give them the details of things, it wasn't their place to know yet, but they knew that there was power gathered around the dinner table. A lot of it. The power to shape the world when they so chose.

Power that Justin wanted to one day see fall into Samuel's hands.

Sam knew. It was what he trained for every day after school. Not just how to use his power. But what to do with it as well. He wasn't being trained, he was being groomed. And everyone at that dinner table that waited for them now, knew it.

It was heady stuff for a small boy. So he pushed it to the back ground, and held out his hand to the pretty girl with golden curls and bright blue eyes. "Come on... let's go before they start looking for us." 

Jessica took his hand with a smile, her shoes in her other hand. "Okay. Can I sit with you? Usually I get stuck between two big, big people." She said. Her white tights were dirty at the feet, and had runs in them, but she didn't care. Even if her mother would. Because she'd found a friend.

Sam nodded. "Sure." He said with a smile as they walked back toward the dining hall, and the formal dinner. "Sounds fun."

"Yeah?" She said with a smile as she stopped to put her shoes back on. "Okay."

Dean looked up from his gameboy when Sam and Jessica returned, and winked at his brother. See, girls weren't so bad!

"Jessica, this is my brother Dean. Have they sent out the search parties yet?" He asked.

"Hey." He said to Jessica. "Oh yeah, I sent them over to the pool, the English maze, the gazebo, even the stables." Because he had a feeling where his brother went, and it wasn't there. "They should be back soon, tail between their legs ready to report their failure to track down two kids to Uncle Justin."

Sam laughed. "Come on, let's go get to the table. We can look like good kids and be waiting on them. " Instead of normal kids just wanting to play and breathe. 

Dean turned off his game and stashed it on a potted plant far from the table. Because he liked his gameboy. Then he and Jessica joined Sam at the table in time to see the 'search party' report back to Justin, who glanced over at the table and seemed to chuckle.

Jessica sat at the table, across from her mother, next to Sam, who had Dean on the other side of him, as everyone else took their seats. The wine was poured (gingerale for the underage) and the food started to be served.

"See, told you. Crab cakes and lobster." Dean whispered to Sam.

"I always eat before one of these." Jessica whispered back.

"So did we." Sam said.

The dinner went well, everyone pretending it was a social gathering, because it was poor etiquette to discuss business at a dinner party. That was for the conversation afterwards in the drawing room.

Sam didn't like being scrutinized by grown ups that he didn't know or really want to know, but he was polite, and answered their questions in the vaguest sense. Bob had told him that a wise wizard knew when to say very little and when to say nothing at all. This was a say very little moment. For he wasn't really old enough to get away with saying nothing at all. Especially since he had given up being willfully mute more than a year previous.

Justin watched carefully as his nephew was evaluated. He wasn't watching Sam, though. He knew Sam could handle himself. He was watching the other wizards. Their reactions, their expressions. And thought they were the stupidest creatures to ever bear witness at his table.

They were excited about Sam, but containing it. Probing with their questions and comments. Yet, they missed the big picture entirely. When Sam was stuck on a response, he looked not to Justin or Harry, but to Dean. The normal, non magical boy. Also the boy they were ignoring (that was all right on its own, Dean was doing his level best to ignore them in return). But Sam looked to his older brother for guidance and prompts, and it flew over everyone else's heads. How foolish. 

Sam didn't understand what all the fuss was about. Okay so he was going to be a wizard one day. So what. So was Jessica. They were all wizards too. It didn't make much sense for all the fuss and excitement. He should be considered normal in their circles.

He was relieved when the meal was done and they were slowly rising to their feet. "Can we go play now?" He asked.

Justin didn't even look at Branwen for permission. "Certainly." Justin said. "Remember it's a school night though." Which meant Jessica would be departing at a reasonable hour.

And all three quickly departed the table before someone changed their mind, Dean a discreet distance behind Sam. He'd watch out of hearing distance, where he could look up from his game from time to time and check on Sam. Because that's what he did.

Sam led the way to his room where he had the board games. "Which one do you wanna play?" He asked her. It was too late and she wasn't dressed to go outside and play. So board games it was. 

Dean settled on his bed, he had his own room, but the rooms had adjoining doors, and it was left open most of the time. He could glance up at the kids and check on them, without spying on them.

"I like Mouse Trap," She said as she brought game down.

Justin looked at Harry. "I think they handled themselves very well."

"Yeah, I would say so. They are circling around that boy like vultures already, you know that, dont you... and Sam... he isn't like me." Harry pointed out. 

"No, he's not." Justin agreed. "That will be a danger. But, on the other hand, his brother is nothing like any of us. But let's keep the council in the dark as long as possible about Samuel."

"I'd like to keep their paws off of him as long as possible. I still smell a rat somewhere in there. I just don't know who."

"Harry, you have always smelled a rat, and I've told you what you smell. Politics and ambition. Wizards we are, but we're also human." Justin said easily.

"Politics, ambition and magic... adds up to one big smelly rat." Harry said. "Just cause it's human nature doesn't mean you have to excuse it. Or let it near a kid like Sam. "

"Harry, he's going to have to learn to tolerate it. He might not practice it openly, or join in, but politics comes with the seat. You inherited your mother's seat. Sam will inherit mine. He cannot be a neophyte to everything that goes on in the Council. Little by little, we have to acclimate him to it."

"I know." He said. "I know... I would just hate for him to lose that innocence too soon. Bad enough that he thinks the tooth fairy and Santa aren't real, and knows that werewolves and vampires are."

"Why do you think I had Dean present at this dinner? There was really no reason for him to be there, not really." Justin said, with a bit of a sly smile. "He's a lot sharper than he lets on. Sam will be able to keep that innocence for a while longer, don't worry."

"Good. Glad you are keeping Dean an active part of all of Sam's life. I don't think those boys would do well without each other." Harry pointed out. "He is doing pretty well with Bob as his teacher though. Bob's going nuts but it's good for him I think."

"Good for who? Raithbert or Dean? I suppose it keeps them both honest." Justin said with a laugh. "Harry, Dean might not be gifted as everyone in the family is, but he is still my nephew. I would hardly separate him from his brother for silly reasons such as magic and non magic. Family is family."

"Glad to hear it, but you know once they sniff out that he's the body guard... they'll start putting pressure on you to do just that."

"Oh they can try. But I sense they like their tithes." All Council members paid a tithing to the Council pot, which went to the Senior members. Justin's tithe was quite considerable. "And the influence over the mortal world. If they wish to keep it, they'll learn to deal with Dean." He didn't feel awkward talking to Harry about this, Harry had turned him down flat, and quite emphatically, about joining his company. "Dean shows an aptitude for business, I'm going to cultivate it."

"He shows an aptitude for fighting." Harry pointed out. "Hopefully you can redirect that." It was part of the reason Harry had turned him down. His own temper was too quick, and there wasn't a lot of forgiveness in Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden.

"I'm trying. Giving him an outlet. Senseis, boxing...he liked skeet shooting with you, so I have him in that too." Justin said. All for another agenda for another time, but it did help contain the tempest inside Dean. "I'd nearly consider encouraging the military, but I can't do anything about that mouth. They'd ship him back within hours of his arrival at basic training." He said with a laugh.

Harry laughed. "He's not the military type. Too many authority issues. And you don't get to be general on your first day." He said. "So... you think Branwen is trying to push her kid onto one of the boys?"

"Oh most definitely." Justin said. "And it's Sam, poor kid. But at least it gives him someone to play with during the parties. She's a pretty child. As long as she turns out nothing like her mother."

"Here's hoping. That one is a barracuda on two legs." Harry said shaking his head.

Sam was sad to see Jessica go when her mother came to retrieve her, but there were promises of play dates, as her mother called them, and the two said goodnight, both yawning a bit in the process. But Sam went over to Dean's room to talk to him once they were alone again.

Dean smirked at his brother as he put his game boy away. "Sammy and Jessie sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G." He sang out to tease his brother. Because that's what brothers did. Wasn't like Sammy never did it to him! 

"We were not!" Sam exclaimed. "Ew." He was still at the stage where kissing was just gross. "She is my friend... friends don't do that ."

Dean laughed again. "All right. Whatever you say." Dean said. "A little practice between friends doesn't hurt though. You'll thank me for that tip later. So what did you think of Uncle Justin's friends?" Though he used the word loosely.

Sam wrinkled his nose. "They're nosy." He said. "And they all want something. Even the ones that really are nice." He knew they had been nosing around him because of his powers and because he was going to be one of them one day. But he still thought it was silly.

"Duh. They want you. Or your loyalty. Or picking apart your defenses while you're still a kid." Dean said. "When you're grown up and all the hard core training is done, you are going to have to be careful, Sam. Most of those people gave me the wiggins."

"I know. I like Jess but I can't stand her mom... and that Morgan guy... kept watching me like he thought I was gonna sprout fangs and attack everyone or something. "

"Well, that's why you should be glad you've got me." Dean said with a grin. "No one was watching me at all. Which meant I could watch everyone else." He still remembered the lessons their father had taught him about being a hunter. Sizing up your opponent, gathering as much intel as possible before striking. What bothered him was several people in that room were sizing up Sam as an opponent. And no one messed with his brother. He didn't care if they were the school yard bully or the Merlin himself. No one messed with Sam. "So you just do your training and all that crap, I'll watch everyone around you."

"I know you will, Dean." He said. "But I can watch out for you too when I am older." Sam promised. "Someone needs to watch out for you too." He knew that Dean could take care of himself, but that didn't mean he didn't need a brother too sometimes.

"Absolutely. We're in this together, remember?" Dean said with a grin and touseled Sam's dark hair. "The world won't even know what hit it."

Justin looked over the paper work, and nodded. It would do nicely. Yes. An adoption would bind the boys to him forever, even if John were able to pull himself together enough to figure it out. And ultimately it would protect the boys. Letting them keep their birth names, giving them additional names never to be uttered. Never to allow those out there to know their true names.

He sighed as he folded the papers and put them back into the safe. Things were falling into place. The boys future was assured. His family line would continue, and they would be safe.


	3. Chapter 3

Ten years later...

Dean Winchester stood in his dark suit as he signed forms for the funeral director. Because Sam was in California, and Harry was in Peru, he was the only immediate family left to sign the forms. To sign the check. And he'd only gotten back in town the week before.

The rest of them should be coming in, he supposed. They always did. He put out enough calls, even if he couldn't reach Harry, he hoped the message would be passed as soon as possible.

He killed his uncle. The one guy who never abandoned him and made sure he wanted for nothing. And Dean killed him. Oh, he didn't shoot him or strangle him or anything, but Justin Morningway was not a young man. And Dean had been in a full pitched argument with him that morning. The next thing he knew, Justin was dead, sprawled out on the floor. The doctor said most likely it was a heart attack.

So now there would be a funeral, a subdued reception, and the reading of the will. Not exactly the vacation Dean had in mind.

Sam got on the first flight back to Chicago. Seated in coach... in the middle section, between an elderly woman who smelled of bengay and garlic, and a flirtatious brunette who confused perfume and bath water. His head was throbbing and they hadn't even lifted off yet. 

He opened his cell phone and dialed his brother's number.

Dean excused himself and went out in the hall. "Sam, please tell me you're on the first flight back." Dean said tiredly. He'd feel better with his brother there, that was for sure.

"Sitting here waiting on take off." Sam said "How you holding up?" They had known that it would happen eventually. Justin would die, everyone did. With the exception of ancient Mai. But this was so sudden and unexpected. Well at least it was natural causes. They had enough unnatural death in their lives. "I should be there in about 6 hours."

Dean breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. I haven't been able to get ahold of Harry." He said. He felt like all the balls had been dropped into his lap. It wasn't a good feeling, to say the least. "Doctor said it was a heart attack. Sam...I think I gave him a heart attack."

"What? Dean, that's not very likely. If he had a heart attack, there had to be a health problem he didn't know about. You didn't make him sick."

"Precipitating factor." Dean said, running a hand through his hair. Because someone had to know. "We had a...a fight. Blow out more like. He knocked a vase off a table, you know that Oriental one he wouldn't even let us look at when we were kids? Yeah, that one. About me...you know." He said, glancing around the funeral home. "I kept it going, I made sure it wouldn't stop until I was ready to slam out. I come back the next day, and there's the coroner. Housekeeper found him sprawled in the hall. Same hall we were fighting with. Probably dropped after I slammed out."

"Don't think that way. You don't know that." Sam said. "Wait until you get a time of death or something. For all we know he got into it with Morgan again. You know those two were always at odds, and the council called for a meeting before you called with word he was dead, so... let's just... see what happened before you jump to conclusions anyway."

"You know I don't keep up with the council stuff. I stay out of all that stuff. But Morgan's been on my case too, and you don't see me dropping dead of a heart attack. Uncle Justin just brushed Morgan off. Hell, he was brushing the council off too from what I heard." Dean said. "The coroner can't place a time of death any closer than within twelve hours, which is WELL within when we had our fight. I did it, I know I did. It's nothing i can be charged with, but I did it."

"Dean... just... dude, you didn't kill Justin anymore than I killed Mom... It just feels that way." Sam said and smiled sheepishly at the woman sitting next to him who seemed to feel the need to pat him on the shoulder reassuringly.

"Sam, just get here, okay? I'll have a car pick you up at the airport." Dean said. Since he was still all in the involvements with the funeral home. "I'm gonna be here a few hours, Uncle Justin left a lot of things to do in case he died. Guy wants a funeral fit for a head of state."

"He deserves it." Sam said. "He put up with the two of us growing up." He wasn't surprised. Justin was ... had been... a bit ostentatious as far as Sam was concerned, but he loved the guy anyway. "I will see you back at the estate."

"Yeah, but dude, you were an angel child." Dean said with a chuckle. "Estate sounds good...that's where he wants to, well, lay in state. In the ballroom of all places." Dean shook his head. "So I'll ride over...you know...with him...or behind him in any case. I'll see you there."

"Get some rest Dean... you sound like you need it." Sam said and hung up the phone. He rested his head against the back of the seat and tried not to think too much about why he was going home.

Or worry about whether or not his anti technology issues would effect the plane.

Rest, yeah right. He called the house and had arranged for Margot to bring in a fresh suit for his uncle. Made a few calls to the company to say everything was on hold now. To prevent a free fall of stock, Dean told them to freeze all the stock. Nothing could be sold until everything was cleared up. Then, once his uncle was ready, he followed behind the hearse in the Impala, inherited from his father, and kept in storage by Justin until Dean was sixteen.

It was finding the hidden trunk in the car, and all the weaponry that went with it, that made Dean start hunting. Researching, going out after all the things that crawled in the night. All the things the council wouldn't do shit about. But he would, and did. So it was no surprise that when his uncle was set up in the ball room, and servants were bringing in chairs, that Dean saw Morgan.

"Morgan, unless you're here to pay your respects, I don't have anything to say to you." Dean said. He felt guilty enough. If Morgan pushed the right trigger, Dean would see if a mortal and unmagical person such as himself could lay the warden out flat on his ass.

"I have no respects to pay for Morningway. However, there is information you will need to have." He said simply. "Such as the cause of your uncle's death." Morgan didn't mince words. He and Winchester had words on more than one occasion due to his violation of several treaties, that he seemed to think didn't apply to him. Like all Morningways, Dean Winchester was short sighted in Morgan's estimation. It left little hope for the younger brother. "He was murdered, by Dresden."

"What?" Dean said. He had expected the words after 'he was murdered' to be 'by you.' He really did, because he knew Morgan would stoop that low, to feed off his guilt and try to get him off his own mission he was following. "What are you talking about?" Dean demanded. "Dude, Harry's not even here. I haven't been able to get a hold of him. Fine, you don't like me. You don't like what I do. But leave the rest of my family alone."

"This isn't about you, Winchester. You can't find Dresden because he is being held by the council currently. According to his story, Morningway attacked him, when Dresden confronted him about his father's murder. The ghost is backing Dresden. Regardless of his reasons, your cousin utilized black magic to bring about someone's death."

"Dude, I don't have time for this." Dean said. He was honestly grieving over his uncle's death. "Why would Harry do that? Murder? His dad died of an aneurysm, or heart attack or something like that. If you have my cousin, you need to release him." 

Morgan raised an eyebrow as Dean made his demand."You do not make demands upon the high council. Even your brother does not yet have the right to make demands." He made allowances for the man's grief however. "Apparently Morningway dabbled in black magic himself. Natural causes aren't always as natural as they appear."

Dean's jaw twitched as he made his hands busy, arranging the chairs, so he wouldn't hit Morgan. Not here in the same room where his uncle's corpse was laying. "Was he, now?" He said, surprisingly in an even tone. "Morgan, it's best that you leave. Right now. Because either someone's lying or the high council really isn't as powerful as it thinks it is. You know, that my uncle was dabbling in black magic and none of you knew it. And I ask that you release Harry in time for the funeral. Sam and I are going to need him. Then I want to see proof of this murder before you present it to Sam. Because if upsetting news like this goes to my brother before it goes through me, we'll see what I hunt next. Got it?" Even after all these years, he was still in 'protect Sammy' mode. And probably always would be.

"Harry has confessed, if he is to be released or executed is still to be decided." Morgan stated as he started to walk away. "As for Samuel... what the council does or does not tell him is not your concern."

"Bullshit, Morgan. Don't push me on this issue. Not now." Dean said, stopping his rearranging of furniture and moving in front of the warden. "Whatever our uncle was or was not messed up in, whatever our cousin did or did not do, Sam doesn't deserve to hear it from you of all people. Or anyone else on the council. Please." Though it rankled him to use that word to Morgan. "Write me out a report on the evidence, if there is any, and let me, his brother, break it to him. You're not going to use this as a powerplay over him."

"I'm not making a power play." Morgan said in a somewhat less arrogant tone. "I will make your ... request... known to the council. It's not me you have to protect your brother from, Winchester."

"I protect him from everybody." Dean said. He was already tired, and he hadn't even gotten into a fight with the council yet. He would, too. He was a non magical person with a pretty good understanding of its inner workings, thanks to Justin, whether he knew it or not.

"The job is easier when you know your targets." Morgan stated and side stepped Dean to make his exit, disappearing from view as he crossed the threshhold.

Sam got out of the car and went to get his bags, only to be stop as the driver beat him to it. "Never got used to that." He grumbled as he headed inside, going straight to the ball room figuring that was where he would find Dean.

Dean was headed to the study to get something to drink, preferably something strong, when he heard Sam come in. "Hey." He said, waving him over to their uncle's study. Where he kept the good stuff. Where they had found it when they were still children. "How was the flight?" He asked.

"Long, stuck in coach between Bambi from LA, and someone's great grandma with a mentholatum addiction. Got any ibuprophen in here? I must have taken half a bottle on the plane." 

Dean went through Justin's draw until he found the ibuprofen and tossed it to Sam, then picked the lock on the liquor cabinet, rifling through until he found the whiskey. Justin was more of a bourbon drinker. "Sam, we might have a problem." He said. He didn't want to tell Sam at all, but he also didn't want Sam to be blindsided by anyone with it.

Sam took a seat."What kind of trouble?" He was figuring something like relatives coming out of the wood work fighting for the company, or the council wanting to run roughshod over the estate and scavange all the magical items Justin had squirreled away. 

"Morgan just left. Man, I hate that guy." Dean said, shaking his head as he sat down also with the whisky bottle. "He, ah, he says Uncle Justin was murdered. And surprisingly didn't try to pin it on me. Says Harry did it, with black magic, and they've got Bob."

"What?" Sam said. "Harry loved Uncle Justin. No way he would kill him, especially not with Black magic. And...and what does Bob have to do with it?"

"I don't know, I don't have all the pieces yet. I just didn't want you blindsided by whatever they have. Something about self defense, and Bob backed Harry up on it, I don't know." Dean said. "Nothing is making sense."

"Self defense? Okay that's... No... Justin and Harry... never happen. Harry doesn't have the stomach for murder of any sort and Justin is ... was... way too fixated on keeping the family together."

"It doesn't make sense, I know." Dean said. "But that's what they're telling me, so who knows what they'll tell you." He said with a sigh as he took a drink. "All I know is that Justin is dead and I can't get ahold of Harry."

"Once we get Justin taken care of, I am sure the council will talk to me. I'll find out what I can... if nothing else maybe we head over to his place and I can get something of his to do a tracking spell."

"We'll do that." Dean said. "So how's college life? Do a panty raid on a sorority yet?" He asked, to change the subject. To anything else.

"No." Sam said and laughed a little, even though he didn't feel like it. Thier family was falling apart again. "And I'm not going to. Stanford isn't exactly a party college, man. "

"Okay, so you go to the library and all that, but there is time for some fun. And sorority sisters...they're fun." Dean said. Sure, he hadn't gone to college, but he still knew that sorority sisters could be fun. Instead he'd jumped right into the family business, both of them, in high school and now. The business side (though he'd been slacking on that lately, hence the fight with Justin) and the hunting side, inherited from their father.

"I'm not looking for that kind of fun." He said, shaking his head. "All they see is Morningway money... they don't understand when the lights go out or the radio fries... Definitely dont get it when they come over and the windows are lined with salt and the lighting is mostly candles."

"Okay, lights out. Good. Radio playing in the background? Overrated. Chicks dig candles, and if its dark enough, they won't see the salt. Besides, it's all equal. You think half the girls I go for, I go for because they're charming, or have some big ass degree in...I don't know...anthropology?" Dean said. "Dude, on half my adventures, they don't even know my real name."

"Yeah, but that's not me." Sam said. "I just... I don't want to set myself up to fall for some girl that I can never tell everything." He shrugged. "I'm keeping it to the magical crowd."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Dean scoffed. "Because you don't have to worry about them wanting your money. Just your nice magical genes. Dude, you're nineteen. What's with the white picket fence scenario already? It's okay to have a little fun you know."

"Yeah... it is... but it's just... safer to have fun in the right playgrounds ya know."

"I like all the playgrounds." Dean said with a chuckle. "Haven't found a favorite yet. Eh, maybe someday. Though, gotta admit, I was staying far clear of whoever Uncle Justin was trying to steer me to. You know, the magical debutantes and shit."

"I can understand that. I just don't want to get into that whole subterfuge thing with someone I might want to see more than once. I'm not any good at lying."

"That's because you consider it lying, rather than..." Dean said with a smirk. "Role playing." Then his smile fell as he heard other people coming in. "Come on, it's show time."

"You told me role playing was for geeks and sissies, remember?" Sam said and rose slowly to his feet. He didn't want to do this...but at least this time there was a body. "When this dog and pony show is over... we handling the remains the Winchester way ?"

"If your council will let us." Dean said. It, afterall, wasn't HIS council! He had no ties to it, other than through relatives. And they had no control over him, either. Much to their disgust most of the time. "But we should. Especially if he was, you know. That's vengeful spirit material. And I'd rather not have to hunt my uncle. And role playing is great if the object is to get you laid. Which Dungeon and Dragons hardly ever is."

"Dude, does the board of directors realize their new CEO is a sex addict?" Sam asked then stepped quickly out of the room and into the hall where the new arrivals were. 

"Dude...low." Dean said with a chuckle as he followed Sam out. Low because he darted out of the room before Dean could say anything. He stood beside his brother and greeted the mourners and such. People were flying in from all over, it was amazing really. Businessmen, world leaders, wizards. The whole gamut.

Most of them were here to genuinely mourn their uncle. There were some, businessmen and wizard alike sizing up the brother they would have to deal with now. Looking at them in a new light now that it was an actuality rather than an eventuality that they took their respective places in the vacancy left by Justin Morningway.  
Sam looked up and smiled, even though it didn't quite reach his eyes "Jessica." He said, greeting his childhood friend. His first crush really.

"Sam, I was so sorry to hear about your uncle." She said, giving Sam a hug. She noticed how the smile didn't reach his eyes, how could it? Even if his eyes would light up in a smile.

"Thank you." He said, knowing that her condolences were sincere, even though he wasn't sure about most of the people there. "How have you been?" He asked.

"I've been all right. Deciding on colleges." Jessica said with a laugh. She was a good student, actually an excellent student, so she had several elite colleges to choose from. "All I know so far is that I am NOT going to Vassar." Where her mother went. Absolutely not. "Much to the disappointment of my mother, I'm sure. I don't know, might go somewhere sunny for once."

"I can recommend Stanford." Sam said as he offered her his arm. He knew she would be going to an Ivy League school. It was a given. Neither of them came from families that would allow anything less. Well... Sam came from one... but it wasn't the one he belonged to anymore. He didn't even know if there were any other Winchesters out there that were actually related to them.

Jessica took his arm with a smile as they headed into the ballroom. Where there was already a line forming to view the body, with Dean standing on the other side. She was filling up the space with small talk, she knew that. Because the space had to filled up. He didn't need to hear how sorry she was that his uncle was dead, didn't need any more sympathy than she had already given. Because after that, it was rubbing salt in the wound.

"Wow, there are a lot of people here." She said. "Do you think your uncle actually knew all these people?"

"Knew? No... probably met them a time or two ... most of them anyway... but knew them? Maybe 10 or 15 not counting the council members."

Jessica looked around. "Who...aren't here. Weird, you thought they'd show up." Jessica said with a shrug. When her father had died years before, they showed up en masse to pay their respects. And her father hadn't been nearly as influential or powerful as Justin Morningway was.

"I think they will be here later... they have some things to attend to. Morgan came by earlier." He said, after all they had sent word to Dean through him. He still thought it was all insanity. 

Jessica nodded, it made sense. "I'm going to go stand with my mother." Jessica said as she stood on her toes and kissed Sam's cheek. "Come find me when all the little old ladies start trying to cry on your sleeve." She said with a shy smile as she went to find her mother.

He smiled after her a little, even if it was sadly, then turned his attention to his brother. She was right. It was a bad sign when the council didn't show up for his viewing. It looked as though they had turned their back on the man. That was a bold position to be taking. Considering there were two Morningway seats on the council... and a third that was being kept by another bloodline because there weren't enough of age magically inclined Morningways to fill it.

Yet.

Dean's jaw was twitching into overdrive as he scanned the crowd. No high council members. Not a good sign. But he nodded at Sam when his brother came to stand beside him. "Some son of a bitch already made me an offer for the company. Man's not even buried yet. Even I have more respect than that."

"I don't think there is a lot of respect here. It's more like... making sure he is really gone." Sam said quietly, looking out over the crowd. "This... isn't what I was expecting at all. I knew that people were two faced around him but this... this is like coming out to view the dragon's carcass if I am making any sense. "

"Surprisingly, you are." Dean said. They were talking under their breath, so they weren't heard by others. They had a lot of practice at that. He looked at his watch. "Okay, they've got an hour, then I'm kicking them all the hell out. Then I'll see what I can dig up on Harry from my end. You, since you're all wizardly and shit, you get to work the council. They like you anyway."

"They haven't proven that they don't like me" Sam countered. That was as far as he was willing to go with that one. "But yeah, I will start attempting to make contact with them then. The way people are reacting... there was a side of him we never knew... have to wonder if what Morgan said isn't true. "

"Dude, he's five feet away from you. Can we talk about this after I kick all the people out?" Dean said. Because discussing if Morgan was right or wrong about Justin when they were within feet of his corpse just seemed...so very very wrong somehow.

The next hour drug by, and Sam eventually went to find Jessica, more to rid him self of the the terrible thoughts going through his head than to escape the supposed well wishers. "I think Dean is ready to call it a night." Sam said softly to her. "I don't think he can take much more of this."

"Yeah I think you're right." She said as she saw Dean doing his level best to direct everyone out the door. Trying to make his point by closing the lid on the coffin, until finally the senior VP of the company started helping him out. Jessica told her mother she'd meet up with her at home. "You want me to go?"

"Just for now. You doing anything tomorrow night?" He asked. "I'm gonna be in town for a few days." Sam told her. He didn't really want her to go but he had the feeling it was a good idea if she did.. there was something brewing. He could feel it in the air.

"Actually, I'm free tomorrow night." She said with a smile as she looked in her purse for pen and paper. Finding neither, but finding lipstick and lip liner. She chose the lip liner and grabbed his hand, rolling up his cuff a bit. "I got my own line a few weeks ago." She said and wrote the number on the inside of his wrist, carefully spaced in case it smudged. "Call me."

"I will." He promised, and committed the number to memory, and kissed her on the cheek, before going to join his brother. "You okay?" He asked.

"Super." Dean said as he glared at the last wizard to depart. Then he sat in a chair. "Funeral and that's it. Think I might sleep in a hotel tonight. No, scratch that. They'll probably come ransack the place for his relics and shit."

"I'll stay if you aren't comfortable staying here." Sam said and looked up sharply as the council filed in two at a time, Morgan holding on to a bound Harry. "This is not the place for this." Sam said firmly looking at them. "We will deal with this, but not in this room."

"We disagree." Ancient Mai said as she came to the front.

"Turn around. Walk back into the hall, turn left and wait." Sam said tightly. "You will not dishonor his memory with a tribunal mere feet from his body. This estate does not belong to you. "

"This isn't the way to make your first impression upon us as one of us." Another said, but Sam didn't take his eyes off of Mai.

Dean stepped forward. "Fine. Since I've already made an impression. And I'm not one of you." He said. "Get out. Wait in the main hall until we feel ready to deal with you. By the way, I've seen my uncle's will. He left ownership of this place to all three of us. But residency rights to me." Which in legal terms said that Dean couldn't be evicted even if by some off chance Harry and Sam decided to sell out. And by magic terms, it made the estate Dean's home. "You have no power here because I'm not giving it to you."

Ancient Mai raised an eyebrow and narrowed her eyes at the same time, which technically shouldn't be possible. "Granting hospitality is as important as how it is received."

"Do you really want to start a feud with the Morningway line over something as inconsequential to you as where you have this meeting? It's nothing but a power play and we aren't playing. We will never play that game. Wait down stairs, allow us to put things in order here, and then we will be down to hear what as transpired. " Sam said as he walked to the door, to show them out. "Oh, and I trust you returned our property to the estate?" He asked, referring to Bob.

Mai waved off an objection from another council member. "The ghost is with us, yes. "  
"Thank you." He said. "I will be down in a few minutes and we can proceed." He so didn't feel up to this, infact he was operating on nothing but Winchester bravado at the moment. He was nineteen and inexperienced in magical battle. But Harry was family, and he wasn't going to let them ride roughshod over his family. Especially not in their own home. 

Dean met Ancient Mai's eyes, and like always, she avoided him. Having no desire to get into a soul gaze with the oldest Winchester boy. Then he slowly turned his back on the council. It was as much symbolic as rude. He wasn't going to deal with them until he calmed himself down.

The council traded glances, then filed out, nodding at Sam as he passed. Once they were all out, Dean kicked a chair across the aisle. "I really don't want to deal with them today." He said to Sam. But they had Harry. So a few deep breaths, and he nodded. "Let's go."

"Dean... we gotta be a little careful down there. Firm yes... but the angrier we make them, the harder they are going to be on Harry, so keep the temper in check, we can break things later."

Dean shook his head. "I'm letting Max out." He said. "She can go ahead and bite them for all I care." He said. But he'd keep his own temper to himself. "Come on, let's get this over with."

Sam nodded and headed to where the council waited. "Dean told me that you believe Harry killed Uncle Justin."

"We know that Harry used a puppet and your uncle's ring to murder him." Morgan stated.

"It was my father's ring." Harry said, still sickened over the entire ordeal, and very much certain that his life was over.Not that he cared. His father was dead because of him. Because Justin had wanted to possess him.

"Be silent." Morgan said.

"No... I want to hear what happened from Harry's mouth and Bob's." Sam said.

"You are not convening this tribunal. It is done, all that is left is the sentencing. "

"Other than Harry I am the last remaining Morningway magus. I have a right to know what happened to my Uncle and to hear it from the accused. I'm young, Morgan... don't confuse it with ignorant."

Dean watched as his dog roamed the area. Max, like him, was underestimated most of the time. But she was a big dog trapped in a small dog's body. And he'd seen her take out things nastier than the council before. So he looked at Henry. Because the council had no say over Dean. And all of them knew it. "What happened, Harry?" He asked.

Harry sighed and ran his hands through his hair, both of them as they were bound with shackles to prevent his use of magic. "I came home, I was going to join Justin and the council when it arrived. I helped him fasten a cuff link and saw my father's ring... the one my mother gave him... the one that had gone missing the day he died." Harry had told this story so many times, he was numb with it. "I took it, and... I had intended to confront him with it. " Bob had coached him on how to tell the truth and leave certain details out. Bob was trying to save his life, and part of Harry wanted that as well. "I found the puppet in his box upstairs and that was when he found me. We argued... " He swallowed and wiped at his face. "He ahm... was trying to justify murdering my father, there was so much said, none of it seemed real any more and then he hit me with the table, I was... on the floor... getting up and the leg... one of the broken legs was coming at me... if Bob hadn't warned me I would be dead..." His voice was lost, tired, devastated. "I didn't even think... I used the ring and the puppet to stop him... just wanted to stop him... I guess I did that."

Dean looked at Mai. "Sounds like self defense to me." Dean said calmly. "So what's the argument about? Apparently our uncle was using black magic, not only that, causing permanent severe harm to another human being, you know, like death, not once, but tried for a second time. What are you people arguing about?"

"He used black magic." Morgan said, nodding at Harry. "We have rules about that for a reason. It touches you once, it never stops."

"You don't have any sympathy for extenuating circumstances? If he hadn't used black magic, Justin would have killed him and kept doing what ever it was he was doing that you never knew about."

"We knew... we could never prove it." Morgan stated, as though the words themselves were bile.

"You knew... you knew and did nothing?" Sam asked. "Is that what this is really about? Eliminating all the embarassment? You might want to reconsider that option." 

"They're going to have to, Sam." Dean said. "Because now I know. And damn, I just don't fall under any of your rules. You can't make me disappear, you can't execute me...because I'm not part of your little country club." He said, looking at Morgan. "I'm outside your jurisdiction, Warden. Dude, that must suck."

"Dean, chill, man, alright?" Sam said and looked at Mai, as the Merlin wasn't present. At least not that Sam could see. "If you want to maintain the Morningway bloodline...or the Morningway tithes... We need to work something out. This isn't right. Life isn't black and white. Magic might be, but life isn't. "

"We will take things under consideration." She said. "Dresden can remain here while we make our decision. If you leave the premesis, Dresden, Morgan will kill you regardless of our decision."

"Yeah, what ever." Harry said  
"And the shackles remain." Morgan added. "Just in case he decides to continue on through the rest of the family."

"Take the shackles off." Dean said. "If we surprisingly drop dead, from black magic, then, well, you'll have all the proof you need that he's guilty, right, Morgan?"

"That's not a risk I am willing to take. A black wizard is nothing to scoff at and nothing that you or Samuel could stop. It is also something I have no intention of having to track down again. So no. They do not come off."

"I'm touched, Morgan. I nearly believe you might actually care about my well being." Dean said as found a bottle of alcohol. "Gotta work on the delivery though." He whistled at Max when Max started going near the plants. She liked to relieve herself in the potted ferns sometimes.

"You still haven't broken her of that habit?" Sam asked. "It's been, what, 10 years?" He shook his head choosing to ignore the council as they turned to file out.

Harry sat down. "Don't...don't get yourselves in trouble over this. I mean it." He was grieving the bastard and he didn't know how to deal with it, much less with what he had done, or found out.

"Dude, we're in it." Dean said as Max came trotting over. "Deal with it." He looked at Sam. "Think we can get those cuffs off or not? Because they've got to be annoying."

Sam shook his head. "They are magic resistant except for the wand that sealed them. No key."

"I'm sorry." Harry said. "But he... killed my dad." He looked at Dean knowing that if anyone would understand the depth of that pain, it would be Dean Winchester. "Because of me." He was still in shock really.

Dean's thoughts strayed, but he rejected them. Justin didn't kill John Winchester. Some supernatural monster did. Unlike Harry's father, John's 'job' came with definite hazards that included death. Didn't mean Dean was getting off his warpath anytime soon. But he finally nodded at Harry. "I get it." He said. And he did. 

Sam looked between the two of them, but said nothing as he began to pace. This day just kept getting worse. He could only imagine one turn of events to make things worse. He didn't want to bury two relatives today.

Morgan alone entered the room standing just inside the door, looking to each of the remaining Morningway men.

Dean looked at Morgan in return. "Dude, have some decency." Dean snapped. "You want to spy on Harry, do it from a shadow or something. So I can at least pretend you're not intruding on private family grief, okay?"

"I'm not here to spy. I am here to pass judgment." He said simply and stepped forward. His sword wasnt drawn, but there was no doubt that it could happen faster than a heart beat.

"Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden." He said. "You stand accused of murder and black magic, you have been found guilty by your own confession and by the testimony of Raithbert of Bainbridge. " He stepped closer. "The council has heard your claim of self defense."

"Get on with it." Harry grumbled, his nerves at their very edge.

"You have been sentenced to the doom of damocles." 

Dean got himself between Harry and Morgan. "That doesn't sound good." He said. He knew what it was. But it still didn't sound good, and he didn't like that power in Morgan's hands. See, Morgan didn't like them, and never tried to hide it.

"It's either that or I can execute him now."

"Not all of the 7 laws are worthy of death. How is this fair?" Sam asked, and Morgan sighed.

"How is it fair to allow him to live after using black magic to exact vengeance, no matter how carefully couched in plausible self defense? Fair has nothing to do with it, Samuel. It has nothing to do with laws or treaties. Fair is a fairy tale told to children to keep them quiet."

"So's the wisdom of the almighty council." Dean shot back. "Told to children so often they believe it, whether it's true or not."

Morgan tossed a quick glare at the oldest Winchester. Then undid the shackles on Harry. "You will be watched. By me. When you don't even know it."

"And that would be different than life before...how?" Harry asked. He now understood why the council was always leery of the morningway line. It sickened him.

"Before I watched. Now, one slip up and I get to act." Morgan said cooly.

"Great." Dean said. "So we've got food up the yin yang here. You staying for a snack or are you going to go away, Morgan?"

"I will leave you to deal with your family difficulties." Morgan said. "For what it's worth, I am sorry for your loss." He told Sam. "The council will wish to speak with you about your stepping up to take your place amongst them."

"Yeah well, give me a little time. Grieving and pissed off...not a good time to make life altering decisions." Like telling them to piss off.

Morgan nodded and turned to leave, disappearing as he stepped out the door.

Harry let himself breathe once Morgan was gone.

"You know, thought I was supposed to be the wild child, the unpredictable and belligerent one." Dean said as he tossed his tie and his jacket on a nearby table and headed toward the kitchen. He hadn't eaten since he'd gotten the news about his uncle. "And here Harry goes, making me look like the underachiever."

"Come on." Sam said, motioning for Harry to go with them. "You look like you could use something to eat... maybe a good stiff drink."

"You two are okay with me being here? I know you and Justin were close..."

"And when was the last time you saw me tolerate someone because it's the polite thing to do?" Dean asked, shaking his head. "Dude, we're family. And we're all each other has, okay? You did...what you did...for your reasons. Justified ones. I'm fine. But I'm not the one that has to go to sleep with this on my mind, so of course I'd be fine." Because Dean usually could be counted on to call it like he saw it.

"Besides," Sam said, "I don't know that either of us would be any less thorough if we knew who or what had killed our Dad. It sucks that it was Justin... but that wasn't your fault. I don't care what his reasons were, it wasn't your fault that he killed your dad."

Harry shook his head. He didn't know which way was up at the moment. He reached into the pocket of his duster and pulled out the ornate skull and set it on the kitchen table. "You can come on out Bob."

"Well, it's about time." Bob said, appearing and making a show of brushing off his jacket. "Please, no apologies necessary."

"Good." Dean said as he found the food and started bringing it out, unbuttoning the cuffs of his dress shirt and rolling the sleeves up over his elbows. "Wasn't planning on it."

"I was just rousted out of my resting place, and questioned for an endless time about my involvement in well, everything." Bob said. "Really, I'm fine."

"Involvement? Oh yeah, you did all that black magic shit." Dean said. "Did you kill Harry's dad?"

"No."

"Cool. We're fine, then." Dean said.

"Bob." Harry said looking at his oldest friend, his teacher "Thank you." He told him sincerely. He looked back to his cousins. "I'll uhm... pack up and find someplace else to live tomorrow." 

"Why?" Sam asked.

"Dude, don't be an idiot." Dean said. "He left me residency rights because of the whole image." It was no secret that Dean would someday be left the company. Because Justin had been right about one thing, neither Sam nor Harry were qualified, deep down where it counted. And better yet, neither wanted it anyway. "This is your place too. Just...no sex in my room. That's all I ask. Or when I'm eating at the table, you know, no sex on the table."

"Dude.. sex addict, I'm tellin ya." Sam said, trying to lighten the mood.

Harry shook his head. "I-I can't." He said raggedly. "You two are family and that's not gonna change. But it would be like profiting from their deaths. I can't do that."

"I hope you're saying that having sex on the table would be a bad thing when I'm trying to eat at it." Dean said. But he sighed. "Guess I can understand that. He left you shares though. We went over his will last year."

"Harry, you need to think. You don't have any marketable skills." Bob pointed out.

"I'm a wizard... people are always needing help and it's not like any one is going to really believe me when I tell them what I am. Friend of mine has a Private Investigator's license, he is always asking for my help.. maybe I'll make him pay me for a change."

"Okay." Dean said. "Don't be afraid to come over and watch a ballgame though." The entertainment room had been refitted by Dean with his first pay check from a summer internship. That was his own hard earned money that had been poured into it.

"I'm not running from you two. I promise. I'm always around if you need me. " He looked at both of them. "But I do have a favor to ask. I'd like to take Bob with me."

"Dude, why do you look like we're about to get into a custody battle over a dead guy?" Dean said with a laugh. "Fine by me. I'm of no use to him, remember?" He said, though his tone was teasing.

"Harry, you don't even have a place to live. Where exactly do you plan on taking me?" Bob said. "I happen to like being clean."

"Dude, you're a spirit. You don't get dirty." Dean said with a roll of his eyes.

"Well I am not leaving until I have a place of my own. So you don't have to worry about me tucking you in at night under a garbage dumpster." Harry said with a laugh.

"You are not living anywhere near on the street." Sam said. "I don't care what your conscience tells you... sleeping in a car sucks. "

"Dude, whoa. So not true." Dean said. "Sleeping in HIS car sucks. Sleeping in MY car is great. I do it all the time." When he was out hunting. And he felt the need to defend his car. "Max loves it. And human women, completely go for it. HIS car...uh uh." 

"Well, I feel much relieved already." Bob said with a sniff.

"Dude, I so don't remember that car being a great place to sleep." Sam said then looked at Bob, and asked. "Bob... do you want to go and live with Harry? We won't make you if you don't."

"And the other choice being watching Dean remake the estate into a brothel?" Bob joked with a raised eyebrow. "No, Harry needs someone to keep him out of trouble. I will remain as a nice resource for you two though."

"Thanks Bob... we appreciate it." Sam said grinning at his brother, at the brothel comment.

Harry relaxed. Bob was what he had left of his childhood. Probably the only part of it that hadnt been a lie of some sort or another. His father trying to protect him and Justin trying to control him. He was relieved that Bob wanted to go along with him. "So what are your plans now?" Harry asked the two younger men.

"Take over the company, make tons of money, find the son of a bitch demon that killed my dad and off him. And if its not the same one that killed Mom, go after that one." Dean said.

"Penicillin, azithromycin...sulfa...what are the other drugs of choice for STDs Dean?" Bob said.

"Dude, you're just jealous."

"He's right you know, Bob. You were quite the ladies man back in the day." Harry pointed out and Sam couldn't help but laugh at that. 

"It's true. I was quite a catch back in my day. Fair maidens and dames alike would love to come to my bourdior for a little respite." Bob said, with pride.

"Wow." Dean said. "Musta had quite a time."

"Oh you have no idea young man. Especially since now all I can do is watch you three and your ill attempts to capture hearts." Bob said.

"Oh that reminds me!" Sam said and headed over to the rotary phone and pulled up his sleeve to look at the numbers on his wrist.  
"Yeah cause that whole love thing worked out so well for you there, didn't it Bob?" Harry said.

"Harry you poor disillusioned young man, we were not talking love, we were talking carnal enjoyment of the flesh." Bob said. "But it did work out well, for a time, and I wouldn't have traded that time for anything. My punishment now is fine, because I can still remember that time."

"Right... that's why you complain about it endlessly." Harry teased, he was trying anyway. Trying to let go and be himself again, but it was hard . Harder than anything else he had ever done before in his life. 

Sam dialed the numbers and waited for Jessica to answer. They had always been good friends, ever since they had first met as small children, but Sam hadn't been able to get her out of his mind since going away to California.

Jessica answered on the second ring. "Hey." She said, a smile evident in her voice. She had caller ID after all. And the only one that would call her from the Morningway estate would be Sam. "How are you holding up?"

"Bout as well as can be expected." Sam said. "Things get complicated around here I guess. So... it seems that even the upper classes believe that casseroles are the answer to grief. You wanna come over and share a little of it? I promise I'll take you someplace nice tomorrow, just not up to leaving the house tonight." And he wanted company ... her company.

"Sure, give me about twenty minutes." To change out of her pajamas, and at least brush her hair!

"Dude, Sam's hooking up." Dean said with a laugh. "And you guys call me a slut."

"See you then." He said, and hung up. "I didn't invite her over to have sex." Sam pointed out. "Haven't even officially gone on a first date yet."

"You need to go out on a date?" Dean said and shook his head. "Sammy, Sammy, Sammy...where did I go wrong with you?"

"By electing him least likely to contract syphillis, I think you did him a favor." Bob said. "Who is the young lady in question?"

"Jessica Moore." Sam said with a smile.

"Jess is a sweet kid, more of her father in her than her mother, thank God." Harry said. "You gotta watch out for the mother. Give her a half a moment and she will be hooking you up with Jess and trying to get in Dean's pants at the same time."

"Okay, so Sam already wants the hook up, and I've seen her, she's out of her league with me. The mom I mean, so where's the down side? Get some relaxation on the curfew thing, it's all good." Dean said. "She's cute, she's the blonde from the funeral, right?" 

"Dude, you remember Jess don't you? The girl I was always playing with after the council dinners? " Sam said. "Yeah she's cute, very cute... her mom... an older version of Jess but dude...that would be just creepy."

"Never rule out a mother-daughter threesome. Can be nearly as much fun as twins." Dean dead panned.

"And you two are related to him, might I add." Bob interjected.

"Dude, I was kidding." Dean said with a laugh as he reheated the food. The only one safe in the house around electronics. Sam, it was still up in the air how much microwaves would hate him. "Yeah, I remember her. Kinda." The five year difference is a big deal if you're eighteen and the girl in question is thirteen after all!

"Yeah, she's a senior this year... checking out colleges..." Sam grinned. "Gonna try and sell her on Stanford since she doesn't want to go to Vassar."

"Why would you do that?" Dean said with a grin. "I mean, from the way you talk, you don't go out much. Just study and shit. Really going to condemn her to four years of that?" 

"Jess is different." Sam said.

Harry raised both eyebrows. "He's got it bad."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam asked.

"You go off to school, don't date, don't get out much. You come back for a funeral and don't even take the time to get over jet lag before you ask the girl out and plan to convince her to move across country with you."

Sam blushed deeply.

Dean laughed until he thought he was going to cry. "Sammy, wow. Well, good for you man." He said. Not everyone was cut out for Dean's way of life after all. Even more, not everyone wanted it.

"It's a match I'm sure everyone will approve of." Bob said.

"Dude, just cause I ask her out on a date... doesn't mean we're getting married or anything... I mean...she could just be you know... taking pity on a grieving friend."

"Uh huh. Sure." Dean said. "Play the pity card, as far as it will go. That's my advice to you."

The butler showed Jessica in, she was in normal clothes, not pajamas and not funeral clothes. Curling hair brushed, and the barest hint of lip gloss on full lips. "Hey." She said with a smile as the butler excused himself.

Dean raised his eyebrows and returned to the microwave, humming a tune loud enough for Sam to hear. The one that traditionally went with 'Sam and Jess sitting in a tree...'

Sam glared at his brother and turned to smile at Jess. "Hey." He said. "You remember Harry and Bob ?" He asked, knowing she had seen Dean earlier.

"I do." Jess said with a smile. "Sorry, you know, about your uncle." The whispers hadn't reached the Moores yet, Branwen wasn't on the high council.

"Let's see, we've got macaroni salad, tuna salad, chicken salad, green bean cassarole, a couple of quiches..." He went to the freezer. "Pizza. Anyone for pizza?"

"Always." Sam said with a laugh. He had never gotten over his love of pizza, even if it was frozen pizza. "Would you like something to drink?" He asked her.

"Soda if you got it." Jessica said with a smile as she hopped up to sit on the counter.

"Such a change, a woman who doesn't want to get drunk with a Winchester." Bob said, with a bit of a laugh.

"I am driving." Jess said with a wider smile. 

"You're under age." Harry pointed out.

Sam retrieved a soda for both of them. "You said you were checking out colleges earlier. Any idea what you want to major in?" Definitely wanted to get the conversation off of lechery and dead uncles.

"Pre med. My mother is throwing a cow over that one. She thinks I should major in English, or music or something useless like that." Jess said with a laugh as she accepted the soda. "Sure, the magic stuff is great, but most of the time it doesn't pay the bills, you know?"

"True. I'm in Pre Law." He thought about it a moment. "Although it's going to be interesting explaining why I don't use computers or cell phones."

"I think I'm going to go into some clinic, probably the low income or free ones, where the hi tech medical equipment isn't really available." Jess said. "That way, I have less chance of breaking stuff."

He liked that idea. Although more for the altruistic side of things than the cleverness of it. "That should work out. Small office with me and a secretary should work fine that way too, pay her to handle the computer and phone. When I was a kid, I thought the worst of it was that I couldn't play video games with Dean. Didn't have a clue how much this was gonna effect the rest of my life as well. "

"It's all right. He sucked at them anyway." Dean said with a laugh as the oven timer went off and he pulled out the now cooked pizza. "He must have known from the beginning no use trying to get good at them. Cause I'd kick his ass anyway."

"Dude, I was 9 when I fried your first gameboy. No 9 year old is going to beat a 13 year old." He said laughing. "Besides, I still kick your ass at chess."

"Could be because I never really bothered to learn." Dean said with a chuckle. The strategy of chess interested him. But the rest of the game was too slow and boring for him. When it came to recreation, he was an instant gratification kind of guy. Which also explained his taste in women.

"I beat him once." Jess said with a smile as she was handed a piece of pizza. "He stared in shock for like ten minutes."

"That was a killer strategy... " Sam said. One of the things he liked the most about Jess was that she was intelligent. And not ashamed of it.

"Hey, look... I'm pretty ragged." Harry said. "I think I am going to turn in. Let's go Bob." 

Dean got nudged by Harry as Harry left. "Um. Yeah. I should go...to...you know...do something...else...elsewhere." Dean said as he grabbed a chunk of the pizza for himself. "You know...stuff."

"Okay, your brother and your cousin, no offense...they're weird." Jess said with a laugh as Dean and Harry cleared out in quick order.

"Yeah that's their way of trying to be discreet and give us some space alone." Sam said blushing a little. "So, wanna go for a walk? Away from my wierdo family?" He laughed. He didn't take offense. Hell, he figured he was probably one of the weirder people she knew even if she didn't want to admit it.

"Okay." She said. "You know where I want to go, where we haven't been in years? How about we go to the tower? I still remember the view from there."

"Alright" Sam said with a smile, he could still remember taking her up there for the first time, and holding her hand as they had come back to the dinner table afterwards.  
He offered his arm to her as he led the way. "It's not the same here now. You wouldn't think it would make a house feel different, not having him here." He couldn't bring himself to talk about the truth behind Justin's death. not yet. Not now. He didn't know how to deal with it all himself yet.

"I know. My house didn't feel like anywhere I really wanted to be after my father died. But I managed to make it a little more mine as time went on." Jessica said. "Loss sucks, so does death. But there's no way to really prevent them."

"I just get tired of it happening so damned often." He said. It wasn't as though there was a natural cause involved. They were all taken from him. The worst thing with Justin was that it wasn't just the man that was taken from him, but the memory as well. It was completely tarnished and had Sam second guessing everything that had happened in his young life.

"Yeah I can understand that." Jessica said as they reached the tower. She leaned against the banister railing, just looking out at the view. "I guess I could feed you some crap about the circle of life, and all that stuff, but don't worry, I won't."

Sam had never spoken to anyone about what had happened to his parents. No one but Dean. He didn't even talk about it to Justin or Harry. They knew, but it wasn't something he spoke of. It hurt to much still. "This had nothing to do with the circle of life." Sam didn't talk about death. Death was the enemy, the monster that let the other monsters win.

But standing there, with Jessica, looking out over Chicago, Sam spoke. He told her what had happened to his parents, how they had been abandoned for the hunt that had taken his father's life. And then he told her about what had truly happened to Justin, and why. He didn't feel the need to tell her not to tell anyone else. He trusted her. Trusted her to know that this wasn't just him talking... this was something deeper.

Jess listened to him and put a hand on his shoulder as she watched her face. Because what he was telling her was seriously deep, not to mention private. She wondered if anyone save his brother had ever heard even half of this stuff.

And she didn't swear not to tell, because that was a given. He was handing her part of his soul, for the most part, and she understood that.

"I don't know what to do anymore. It's like my entire reality has been turned upside down. Did he even love any of us? Or was it all just to keep the Morningway name on the council...fill all the seats..."

"I think he did, in his own way." Jessica said carefully. "I mean, he handed the company over to Dean, who's so not magical. So it wasn't about the magic all the way. I don't think." Justin certainly didn't have to take Dean when their father died, if all he was after was magical ability.

"I hope so." Sam said. "And poor Harry... god I have no idea how to help him. I don't think any one can. We almost lost him too today. Dean and I, of all people, should have known that things aren't always as they seem or that it could all blow up in horrible evil ways but we were still blind sided by it all."

"I think this is hard to predict though." Jessica said. "Don't be so hard on yourself, Sam. Your life was totally turned upside down as a child, and Justin provided security. Now it's turned upside down again, and Justin's not here. It's natural to be all out of sorts. But you couldn't have seen this coming."

"He was using black magic... I never saw any of the signs. Can't help but feel that I should have." He shook his head. "I guess everyone likes to think they are more observant than they are. Good thing Dean is the hunter, not me."

"And what would you have been looking for?" Jess said. "Big black robes and ancient ceremonies? The ones who practice black hide themselves better than vampires. And we all know the Red Court is excellent at hiding themselves in plain view. There is nothing to blame yourself for." Even if he had seen some disturbing signs, he would have denied them anyway.

"I suppose." He said with a laugh. "So... now that I have completely depressed you with all of this.. you sure you still want to go out with me? I promise not to be so maudlin tomorrow night." 

"Okay." Jess said, then slipped into teasing. "As long as you're not maudlin. I might have to tickle you then. It is so hard to be maudlin when someone's tickling you."

"Damn, you remembered." He said, refering to the fact that he was quite ticklish. "Guess I had better be careful not to be maudlin... it's really embarrassing to laugh wildly and uncontrollably in public."

"I don't know, might do you some good." Jess said with a wide smile. "I'll make a note of it, that that hasn't changed." So she remembered everything about Sam Winchester. He was her first big crush, and let's face it, she was still crushing after him.

"Uh oh... that's never good... making notes of my weaknesses already. Well... you might as well add chocolate chip cookies and playing in the rain... those things haven't changed either."

"Got it covered." She said. "So where are we going that you won't be maudlin at?" She asked. To move the conversation off the maudlin issues.

He named the restaurant. it was one of two he knew in town that catered to wizards and witches. One was a bar and grill, the other was a high end restaurant. He opted for high end this time. He wanted to make an impression, to take her someplace special. It was a first date after all.

She smiled, she heard of the place. Went there once with her mom. Most normal people thought candle light and gaslight was romantic, and even she did. With the right person, even if candle light and gaslight was preferable so as not to blow stuff up. And Sam could definitely be the right person to consider it romantic with.

Sam smiled in return. "So, seven tomorrow?" He asked. He felt better just talking to her, spending time with her. It was like that calm in the storm.

"How about six thirty?" She said instead. "That way we can avoid just about everyone." She said, which sounded good to her. She was a social person, but sometimes she didn't like to share, as bad as that sounded.

"Sounds good. I'll pick you up then. " Sam said as he moved in a little closer. "And as much as I hate to bring this to an end tonight, I really should go check on Dean. He wasn't dealing so well with the death thing to begin with. The new twists can't be doing him any good. " 

"No, probably not." She said. "Come on, walk me out. You know I might get lost." She said taking his hand as they started out of the tower, because it felt right to do so.

Sam smiled at her. "Can't have that. I've been lost in here before. It wasn't as fun as I thought it would be." He said with a laugh. "Thank you." He told her. "For listening to me up there. "

"It was an honor." She said. And it was, all he had told her up there in the tower. He didn't have to, but he wanted to. And that made it all the more special for her. 

Sam paused before reaching to open her car door. He caressed her cheek lightly, then leaned in to kiss her gently. 

She kissed him back tenderly until Max bumped against Sam's leg. She'd gotten out somehow, and now wanted to be let in. In her canine mind, humans kissing other humans could wait. Jess laughed. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night." He said and opened her door for her, waiting for her to get behind the wheel before closing it. "Come on Max, let's go find Dean." He said and started toward the house. "You are still an escape artist "

Dean was in the workout room Justin had outfitted for him when he seriously began training. Changed out of the funeral clothes to sweat pants and a teeshirt, feet bare and hands taped, he was beating the crap out of a hanging bag as if it were a mortal enemy he was finally able to kill.

Max came into the room, with short barks, running around both Dean and Sam in a wide circle.

"Hey." Dean said as he kept laying blows. "Jess leave already?"

"Yeah. We're going out tomorrow night." He said. "Max was out again. That dog is an escape artist."

"Way to go Sammy." Dean said as he stopped and tore the tape off his hands to scratch Max under the chin. "You got out again? You're a chip off the old block, aren't you. Yes you are! Such a good dog."

"No wonder you can't control the little thing. " Sam said with a laugh. "You're too busy encouraging her to break the rules. Definitely a chip off the old block." He shook his head. "So how ya doin'?" Sam asked. "On the bright side, I guess you know you didn't cause his death now." 

"Would have been a whole lot easier if I had been the cause." Dean said quietly as he sat down on the floor to play with Max. Max, at least, was the one female in his life he had a long, lasting, trusting relationship with. "I'm good. Fine. All right. Same old, same old. You know, just feels like I'm an orphan again, but I'm twenty three and I really shouldn't. I'll get over it."

"I feel that way too." Sam said, joining his brother on the floor. "And disillusioned. I don't even know where to begin with Harry... I can't blame him but... at the same time... " 

"But at the same time he killed someone." Dean said, shaking his head as Max rolled on her back to have her stomach scratched, which Dean obliged. "He killed our uncle. Whatever he did to Harry, he was good to us."

"He was good to Harry too on the surface. This whole mess has me questioning everything." He sighed. "I don't know... Maybe he changed after what he did to Harry's father. It's possible, right? "

"It's possible. I mean, he could have written me off by the time I was thirteen. Shipped me off to some military boarding school and forgotten about me entirely." Dean said with a shrug. "Not like I'm needed for whatever plans he had for the council, right?"

Sam nodded. "I believe he really did love us, Dean. I guess it's hard to reconcile that with what he did to Harry's father... but... at least we know he didn't kill Dad. Just... doesn't even sound right saying it out loud you know... that it was a possibility."

"No, Dad was a dead man walking from the moment Mom was killed." Dean said with a sigh as Max playfully gnawed on his hand. "The hunt killed him, and he probably wanted it too."

"Sometimes I think that's why he left us. So that he could chase down his own death."

"You probably have a point." Dean said with a sigh. "I like to think if his death hadn't caught up with him, he would have come back for us."

"Me too. I still remember that night you know... the look on his face... I don't think he wanted to leave us. Not really."

Getting way too close to caring and sharing time for Dean's comfort, so he shrugged. "Doesn't matter now. Guess it's okay that he left us, because he probably would have dragged us on that hunt, then we would have been dead. In a strange way he did us a favor."

Sometimes Sam wished his brother was more into sharing and caring. Sometimes it would ease the pain to just be able to talk to the one person who understood, truly understood his life. "Yeah... best case we could have spent our entire childhood in the back of the Impala, or cheap motels on our own. "

"Nothing wrong with the Impala." Dean said with a chuckle. It was his prized possession. Kept in good condition by Justin's mechanics, and turned over to Dean on his sixteenth birthday. Since then, he'd learned how to maintain it himself, and was obesssive over it. Truly. "But you've got a point. Dude, you're in frigging Stanford. Probably wouldn't have happened if we were with Dad."

"I know you wouldn't be CEO of a major corporation, ever. You would so be all over the hunt right alongside him. And the Impala is great... as a car... but not so cool as a place of residence. Who knows? Could have wound up in foster homes before it was all over... so no dark thoughts about Uncle Justin or his motives or whatever. He was good to us, and for us... and was there whenever we needed him. Of course so was Harry, and I think we have to find a way to be here for him now."

Dean laid back and Max flopped on his stomach. "Yeah I know. Gotta wrap my head around the fact that he killed someone, he killed Uncle Justin, and then move on. Dude, you gotta give me some time." He said, shaking his head. Because his world had been turned upside down, and Dean did not like that to say the least.

"I'm not saying you have to wrap your head around it tonight. I don't think anyone could manage that. Hell I'm having enough trouble with him being dead, much less the how he's dead. I just ... don't want to lose Harry too. "

"We're not going to lose Harry. I'll be fine, I'm always fine. Just need some...time." Dean said. "Come on, it's late and you look like hell. Let's get some sleep."


	4. Chapter 4

One year later...

Melissa Sutherland waited for her appointment with the illusive Dean Winchester. The last few meetings she had were with his vice president. She wasn't interested in merging with his vice president, so she had insisted on meeting with the man himself.

"Mr Winchester will see you now." His secretary said as she showed the way to Dean's office.

Which a year ago, had been his uncle's. Over the last year, he'd really learned the ropes of the business. And some ropes he was still learning. Thankfully, his uncle's old vice president agreed to put off retirement to show Dean, and support him. Some of the board meetings were tougher than hunts he still went on.

But even the corporate world couldn't change Dean down in his core. He figured it was his company now. He was the majority stockholder, and after him a chunk of stocks belonged to Harry and Sam. Who were more than happy to let him vote in their stead as needed. Of course the profits from Harry's stock were rolled back into the company, because Harry refused to touch it, no matter how much Dean tried to convince him to.

At twenty four, he knew he was the 'young whippersnapper' (as one rival called him) in the shark tank, but he also used that to his advantage, changing the direction of Morningway Enterprises more toward the youth market (anyone under 55 in the corporate world) more than it had been. And the results were phenomenal. So right now, all his critics were quiet. Too busy swimming in the money he made them.

But mergers, buy outs, all that tedious stuff, he let Donald deal with. It was boring and his answer was always no anyway. There was one that wouldn't take no for an answer. At least not from Donald. So he was forced to set aside time for some woman, probably old enough to be his mother, and unattractive to boot, to fail to convince him into anything.

"Mr. Winchester." His secretary said, opening the door to the office. "Ms. Sutherland." She said as she showed Melissa into the large, windowed office. From here, he could see all of Chicago. He'd kept his uncle's desk. Got a new couch. A new table, and definitely a computer.

"Mr. Winchester." She said as she extended her hand. "It's nice to finally meet you." She was a young woman. Just a few years older than Dean. She was dark complected, with large dark eyes, but her hair was honey blond and was pulled back neatly. She was a small woman, but she carried herself as though she were in control of the world around her and was comfortable with that.

"Call me Dean." He said as he shook her hand. She was the type of woman, physically, that he'd take home for a night of fun. Not the kind that usually walked into his office for business. "So why, exactly, were you not taking Donald's no?" He asked with a grin. Might as well get that out of the way. His pants could be charmed off easily. But the business, nope.

"Would you in my place?" She asked as she took her seat. "I'm Melissa by the way. I think our two corporations would do well with a merger. It's mutually beneficial." She said and presented her case.

Dean listened. "Sure, from your view point, it's massively beneficial. But, from mine, not so much. See, your corporation is barely called that. Morningway Enterprises would swallow it whole." Dean said. "So you wanted the answer straight from me? No merger. Morningway Enterprises gets nothing out of the deal other than having to buy a bigger table to accomodate yourself and your other majority stockholders if we did a merger. I'll offer you a good price for the whole as a take over, though."

"Meaning my family's business disappears under the major banner of Morningway, my stock holders lose more than they gain, and I just get to go through life as a pampered princess from the short term profit. " She laughed softly. "You're charming, but not that charming."

"Yes I am." He said with a grin. "Okay, the business can keep the name, and...let's say...forty percent of the profits from that individual business. My final offer. I mean, look what you gain. Dividends as long as the company is profitable, research and development from Morningway...and the stock holders have an option to buy in. My final offer, you're cute but...okay, you're that cute."

"I think we can work with that." She said, planning to rectify that situation later. But first things first, after all. "You think I'm cute?" She asked, having never heard that one in an official meeting before, but he was young, inexperienced, even if apparently good at the job. After all Morningway hadn't lost any ground in the last year. That said a lot.

"Great, I'll have my legal courier your legal." Dean said with a chuckle. "Don't start, I'm not the first guy to tell you that." He said with a grin. Not when they looked like her, that was for sure.

"No, you're not but I have to admit it's the first time its come up over a business deal." She said, smiling at him. She liked the way he grinned. She liked just about everything she saw, had long before their meeting. It was part of the reason for the meeting, not that she planned on him finding that out.

"Even my ego has to admit that it might have something to do with most of the other CEOs being old enough to be our fathers, so them saying that comes off as just plain creepy." Dean said with a laugh. "Luckily, none of them have called me cute, yet."

"Oh I am sure they have called you quite a few things this past year, none of which would be cute." She said. "I remember my father taking his business associates for dinner and drinks." She told him. "Usually avoid that... you know... old men with way too much imagination and all... with you, I might make an exception."

"Our favored establishments are probably different." He said, thinking of the bars he liked to frequent. "But if you're up for an adventure, I think I could change your mind on drinking with business associates."

"I'm up for an adventure. I can venture out into the real world. I just have to be careful about what I touch. Usually restaurants are alright. So long as I don't touch the light switches or anything."

"I don't usually go to the high tech places. I deal with that enough here." Dean said with a laugh. Since he was able to be more hands on than his uncle, he was. Helped him learn. "So don't worry about that. Also, don't wear that." Meaning her business attire, even if she was hot in it. "Where do I pick you up at?"

Melissa raised an eyebrow. This was going to be easier than she thought. She took out her business card and wrote her personal information on the back. "Pick me up at 7." She said as she rose to her feet. " Don't be late."

He took the card, noted the address and the neighborhood. "Wouldn't dream of it." He said with a chuckle. Evenings and nights he had no problem with. It was when people expected him to be places before noon that he tended to drag his feet and get cranky.

Melissa left the office and headed from there to a little shop she knew about on the wrong end of town. One that shielded itself from the council and operated so far under the radar that most didn't even know the address existed much less the business within.

She was there less than 10 minutes, knowing what she came for and leaving before any other customers could walk in. She, too, operated under the radar. Normally sending others to gather her supplies, but this time she needed to make sure there were no mistakes. anything less than premium stock would have it all unravelling and the council down on her head before Winchester could say hello. 

Dean finished the business for the day, and went home. Where for a moment, he felt normal, weirdly enough. People old enough to be his grandfather weren't trying to condenscend to him, and Morgan wasn't crawling around (because Harry wasn't there).

Contrary to popular belief, he was neither a stupid nor a clueless man. Women like Melissa tended to act like the old men. Condenscending. Unless they wanted something. And with women, one could never tell. A merger of a different kind, purposely use him to impregnate them, the list went on.

So it was with well hid trepidation mixed with equal share curiosity that he pulled up to the address at 6:59 and rang her doorbell, dressed like a normal person for once. Jeans, black biker boots, dark tshirt under a dark flannel with the cuffs rolled and pushed up past his elbows.

Melissa had done her research on Winchester, and came down stairs in a casual dress. It still cost more than most people made in a month, but it was comfortable. Dressy enough to go anywhere that didnt require a reservation, casual enough not to stand out in lesser establisments. 

She was waiting in the library going over a few files, when the house keeper led him inside. "Hi."She said with a bright smile. "Prompt. I like that."

"Ooh, glad I passed the first test." He said with a chuckle. "Come on. I leave all that work stuff at the office. This is not a working dinner."

"Even better." She said as she rose and grabbed her purse. "Dont worry.. no cell phone hiding in there to interrupt us. I promise." Mostly because it would fry in her hands.

"That's such a cop out." Dean said. "Seeing as you probably can't use one." He had his cell phone though. The board didn't have it though. Donald did, strictly for emergencies. Then there was Sam and Harry. And a few sources he was cultivating on the hunt. "Come on, I'll show you how those outside the guilded cage have fun." He said, for he'd done his own research on her after she left. The normal businesswoman, born into a bit of money. Never seen outside the socially acceptable places, normally the kind he never set foot in. But he led her back to the Impala, still his pride and joy.

"I didn't know you were into classic cars." She said with a smile. "It gets to be a choice with you, me it's a necessity. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate them though."

He smirked. "So I'm still capable of some surprises then." He said as they got in. "Had this car since I was sixteen. Was my dad's before me, and I think he might have gotten it new, or near new at least." It's what he had to remember his father by, and besides, it was a kick ass car. He started the engine, her magical tendencies not interfering with it at all as the radio came on, his normal music. Which was younger than the car at least.

"It's very well preserved, which is amazing considering I can imagine you actually use it instead of storing it in a garage somewhere. So where are we going?" She asked.

"Bar down by the docks I know." Dean said. "It's called Moonshack. Well, actually it doesn't have a name, some waitress who's been there forever named it that once and it stuck." No fancy electronics or anything like that. TV above the bar, old fashioned jukebox, and good beer.

"By the docks." She said. "Well this will definitely be an adventure." She laughed. "Can't say I have spent much time down there. But I will trust your judgment."

Dean grinned. "And here you had me thinking you were a smart girl." Dean said with a chuckle. Trust his judgment? If Harry or Sam were here, they'd crack up laughing right now. Like the doubled over trying not to cry type of laughter.

"It's not like I can't take care of myself or find an antacid if your judgement is off." She said turning her attention outside the window. "Don't have much experience with this adventuring thing, usually play it safe. Safe hasn't turned out to be as ... safe as one might think. So I can give the other side of life a try for an evening."

"Yeah, preferably the non magic side. Got enough of that growing up." He teased. "So, if we play any bar games, none of that telekinesis crap or anything. Because it would be cheating."  
She grinned at him. "I would never cheat." She said with a laugh. "When someone is expecting it." She added playfully.

He laughed at that part as he turned off onto the docks. Not a very well lit neighborhood by any means, it exuded a rougher atmosphere than one would find at a country club (Dean had inherited his uncle's membership...and had yet to step inside), but he knew the roads and knew the neighborhood. Most of the regulars at the bar thought he had the same name as a big shot, not that he was that Dean Winchester, which was refreshing.

"Okay, point taken." He said as he pulled into the pot hole filled parking lot carefully. "Here we are." He said as he led her into the bar. It was a normal bar that normal people went to. Populated by blue collar workers for the most part, men who made their living with their hands and their backs.

She wasn't uncomfortable with the neighborhood. In fact had been here just that afternoon, but she had never come here before. She stepped closer to Dean, but not enough to appear timid. It was a delicate balance with this one. Too much in control of the world around her and he would lose interest, too weak and he would lose interest or grow suspicious. "Something smells incredible."

"Those would be the ribs." Dean said as he guided her to a free table and signaled the waitress who knew him. Every once in a while, he liked to be in familiar territory, especially when he was figuring everything else out about the situation, or trying to.

Wendy, a buxom bottled blonde approaching middle age swung by the table. "Dean, it's good to see you honey." She drawled out. "And you've brought a friend." She said with a chuckle.

Melissa smiled at the waitress, oh yeah, she was going to have to rein Winchester in. But there was time for that later. "Hi." She said with a friendly smile. "I have never been here, so I will leave the ordering to you... with the exception of one thing... I like stout."

"Okay." Wendy said and jotted that down on her pad. "We've got ribs, burgers, wings and pizza. On the side is coleslaw, fries or potato salad."

"Wendy, you know what I want." Dean said. "And a burger with fries." He favored the draft beers they served here. Probably made out in the shed in back, but they were good.

"Sounds good." Melissa said and eased back into her chair. She wondered if he were trying to scare her off, with the trip into the lower income side of town, as if it were a test. She figured he would enjoy these sorts of places, just hadn't expected him to bring her to one. 

Then again this was one of his regular haunts, perhaps that was a good sign. "I haven't had a good burger in a long time." 

"Well, Bill makes one of the best around." Dean said. Regular haunt? Funny phrase, and if he had heard her say it, she would have laughed. He started coming because sailors were by nature a suspicious bunch. And being right on the docks, this place was a haven for sailors. Helped with his other job. And the food was good, which kept it in his mind. Wendy arrived quickly with their drinks and went off to put the order in. "So, what made you agree to come?"

"I like attractive men who have no reason to be interested in my bank account or my wand. " She told him honestly. "You fit the bill, and I was in the mood to be adventurous." 

He chewed on his bottom lip as his green eyes lit up with amusement. "So it never occured to you that I'm a person behind the incredibly handsome face?" He teased. "Wow, what's the word for a femalel chauvinist?"

"Oh now! It's not like I went straight to the sexual harassment." She said teasing back. "I thought I would save that for later."

"I'm supposed to feel flattered that you didn't pinch my ass?" Dean said with a grin as Wendy brought over their food. "Hey, Wendy, I don't even think she checked my ass out."

"Guess they don't make girls like they used to." Wendy said with a roll of her eyes and a wink at Melissa. "Holler if you need anything."

Melissa laughed. "Ah... the role reversal." She said. "Damned if I do, damned if I don't." She said as she picked up the ketchup for her fries. "Tell you what... I'll pinch your ass after I find out if the man behind the smile is worth taking home or not."

"Oh, well, now you're assuming I want to go home with you." Dean said. "I do have standard you know, despite what you may have heard." He just measured his standards differently, was all. "What kind of boy do you think I am, anyway, lady?"

"No one says you have to." She said, eyes smiling. "And I don't think you are any kind of boy at all. Don't much care for boys... or girls... I like my partners to be all grown up."

"Well, hopefully not too grown up." Dean said. "Not packing any blue pills yet, no AARP membership, no handicapped plates. Staying as far from all that as I can for as long as I can." The whole idea of Viagra was an insult to his masculinity, in his mind.

"Anyone that grown up would remind me of my grandfather." She said "I like em somewhere between legal to drink and midlife crisis." Truth be know she liked them pliable and submissive, but that usually came later. 

He laughed. "Damn, and I thought I had flexible standards." He said as he took the ketchup and smothered his fries in them and drank his beer. It was an enjoyable meal, she made him laugh. Which was rare these days, it really was. But Bill started signalling that it was time for closing, basically by yelling 'everyone get the hell out' so he could clean up and go to sleep. So he paid off the bill, left Wendy a tip and led her out of the bar.

"This was fun." She said as they walked back toward the car. "I'm going to have to remember this place. When my car is out of the shop. Don't know that I want to have someone drop me off here in a limo. just seems a bit... over the top ya know."

Dean laughed. "Most of the people in there don't even know what I do for a living. A limo would definitely throw them off." Dean said. But they were good people, reminded him of the type of people his father hung out with before he hung out with hunters.

"Yeah... sort of ruins the feel of the place to throw off the regulars. Not to mention it's just rude to show off." She said with a shrug. Or attract unwanted attention from those in the neighborhood that weren't there to have a good meal.

He nodded his agreement with a chuckle as he unlocked the Impala. "Come on, I'll take you home." He said. It was near two in the morning after all.

"You picked me up.. I sort of assumed that you would take me home." She teased. "Or is that something I should arrange to do myself next time?"

Next time? Huh, that would be a first. But, maybe.

"Depends on how badly you fight with me on any given moment." He teased back. Not that he would do that, strand a woman in that part of town, especially a woman that couldn't even call a taxi for various reasons. She said she could take care of herself, but very few people could take care of themselves against everything that part of town had to offer.

"Are you fun to fight with?" She asked, not really planning on there being much in the way of argumentative behavior. She wouldn't tolerate it. Which was why she was being on her own best behavior at the moment.

"I'm on my best behavior right now." He said with a smirk. "But yeah, I'm a ball to fight with." Gets the blood flowing in all the right ways, at least that was his experience.

"I'll keep that in mind." She said with a slight purr to her tone. "Although I think I will still prefer it when you laugh. Makes the dealing with each other in those normal everyday business type settings a bit difficult if we go around fussing and fighting too much."

He gave her a look. Dealingn with each other in normal everyday business type settings? She just sold him the company. But he grinned. "Aw shucks, lady, I'm just a corn fed Kansas boy trying to make it the big city is all." He said, affecting a midwest drawl.

It was her turn to raise an eyebrow. "Hmm... right." She said. "Some how I doubt there is anything so simply defined about you." He was going to be a handful. She could tell that already.

He rewarded her with one of his patented smirks. Or at least they should be patented at any rate.

"Yeah, maybe not." Dean said. "That'll be interesting for you to find out. Only so much you can learn from interoffice gossip and the financial pages."

"There are things you want to know about a man you wanted to go into business with, and there are things you want to know about a man that you have just gone to dinner with." She said. "Office gossip and financial pages do just fine for the former... the latter... well that takes a bit more study."

"That's all right. I didn't even bother looking up the inter office gossip on you. I prefer field study myself." He said with a grin as he manuevered his car around the pot holes.

"Really." She smiled a little, nibbling on her lower lip thoughtfully. "And what is it that your field study has told you?" 

"Further research is possibly required when my grant comes through." He said with a chuckle as he drove back toward her neighborhood.

She laughed. "You'll have to keep me apprised of your grant situation." She said. "Further study is an option at this point." 

"Always good to hear." He said as he pulled into her driveway. One thing led to another, and they soon resembled horny teenagers past curfew more than successful businesspeople.

"You wanna take this upstairs? Or into the back seat?" She asked, coming up for air, definitely liking where things were going. If the delivery was as good as the lead in, she was going to be a very happy woman indeed.

"I'll walk you to the door." He said, getting out of the car. The crisp night air felt good, that was for sure. He kissed her again at her door, making himself pull away. "I'll be in Tokyo for the next week. Call me." He said with a grin. Ball was in her court.

"Alright" She said with a smile. "You wanna give me your home number or do I call and make an appointment with your secretary?" She didn't want him to leave, but she wasn't going to worry about it. He had left her an invitation to call - which was a good sign.

"Oh even my secretary doesn't have my cell number." He said. Because he didn't want to be bothered with the not so emergent emergencies. If it was really necessary that Dean be contacted, Donald would do it. So he wrote his cell number on the back of his business card and handed it to her. "So she's pretty useless as a social secretary."

"Ah... wisdom and looks. Fortunately I don't have the option of a cellular leash to be hounded by." She told him. "So I will give you a week or so and I'll give you a call." 

He chuckled. "Sounds good." He said and headed back to the Impala. He had to be at the airport in one hour. Did he like flying? Hell no! He hated it. But at least the long flights, like to Japan, he could take a sleeping pill and sleep through the entire thing.

Melissa spent the next week preparing. Life was going to change dramatically. She instructed her people to delay the sale of the company. She wanted her hooks in Winchester before he had his hooks in her father's company.

The time passed quickly for her. Everything was ready, all she needed was Dean. But she waited. He had gotten back into town on Monday, it was Thursday before she picked up the phone and called. 

She got his voice mail, but he returned the call the following evening. He was out on a hunt once he got back from Japan. Now he was in his den, in his boxers, cleaning a wound on his thigh before he was going to stitch it up.

"Hey." He said when she answered. "Got your message."

"You said to call you. How was your trip?" She asked, as she settled into an over stuffed chair and draped her legs over the arm, using the other as a head rest.

"It was great." He said, meaning his 'other' trip. Japan was, well, Japan. He didn't much like Japan. Way too formal. And the deal with the raw fish was weird. "Glad to be back in the land of red meat though." He said with a laugh.

"Yeah, I bet." She said. "So, you up for some of that red meat?" She asked. "Dinner perhaps?"

"I'm really not up for going out." He said with a chuckle. What he did when he wasn't in the office wasn't a secret to the council or their ancillary members. He was sure he was on some sort of 'watch' list in fact because of it. But he still had a thigh wound he was threading a needle for. "I could be persuaded into firing up the barbeque though."

"Sounds like fun." She said. "When would you like me to come over?" She asked. It would have been easier at her home but that was fine. She could make do at his easily enough.

"That depends." He said, a cheeky tone slipping into his voice. "Do I have to put pants on?"

"Oh I think pants are optional." She said. "So long as you don't have those ... milky white dead whale legs but it just doesn't seem likely."

He laughed at that. He didn't do shorts as a wardrobe choice, but he did swim regularly. It was encouraged by his uncle. Promoted flexibility and endurance. And it was an activity when he was younger that didn't encourage him to start a fight. "Well, you know where I live." Everyone who was anyone knew where the Morningway estate was.

"I'll be there in 20 minutes." She said. "See you then." she hung up and went to put on something more casual. If he was talking barbeque it was likely a jeans and tank top kind of evening. Sometimes she wondered that he had ever been raised in that house. Then again, look how Dresden turned out.

True to her word she was ringing the door bell 20 minutes later, a 6 pack of Irish Stout in hand. BBQ just wasn't a wine occasion.

The housekeeper led Melissa through the expanse of the mansion to the backyard, where Dean hadt he grill heating up, steaks on the side waiting. He'd decided to dress anyway, though he favored his right leg just a tad. "Hey, you made it." He said with a grin. He decided he liked her better in completely casual clothes, if she had to wear any at all.

She smiled at him in return. "Well you know there were a few close calls along the way. Since I'm so easily distracted and all." She teased as she set the beer down on the table. "Hmm... steak, you weren't kidding about the red meat. You know what they say about red meat right... that whole increasing testosterone thing."

Dean laughed. "Don't forget I'm playing with fire too. Red meat, beer, fire...yup, think I earned my man card this week." He said as he threw the steaks on. "I've got making up to do. They tried to feed me sushi and rice for a week."

Melissa laughed at that. "Oh as if anyone could take away your man card." She said. "I don't mind sushi so long as it doesn't involve fish. Sushimi is vile... I don't eat much fish even when it's cooked. "

He laughed. "So I hope you're hungry, because I know I am." He said as he let the steaks cook and went back over to the table and balanced an ice pack over his sweatpants clad thigh. This was what sucked about hunts. The after effects!

"What happened?" She asked, taking a seat near by. "Or are you just into cold?"

"Angry, tormented spirits turned into poltergeists and a nice sharp knife collection in the house, never a good mix." He said with a chuckle. "Just gotta ice it for the night. Some guys collect stamps, or baseball cards. I collect scars. So much better at story time."

She laughed a little then. "And just think.. how many girls out there could you honestly tell that to? Well you aren't in an emergency room or hobbling around like your leg is about to fall off so either you are different than every other man on the planet I have met, or it's not that serious a wound. Funny how the little ones hurt so much, isnt it?"

"Oh I'm completely different from any man you've ever known." He said with a chuckle. "Besides, go to the ER? And tell them...what? I got stabbed by a poltergeist I pissed off? Doesn't matter what I tell them, tomorrow in the papers is 'Morningway heir knifed in an abduction or assassination plot.' "

"Yeah that's just what you need. A serious scandal. So how long have you been going off and dealing with the not completely departed? Or was it something you came upon by accident?"

"Since I was about four. Took a...well...break...when my dad died. Got back into it when I was sixteen." When he got the Impala and found all the weapons in it. And his father's journal of everything John knew about the supernatural up until the day he died. "Keeps me out of trouble."

She laughed a little. "I shudder to think of what you would consider trouble if that is staying out of it." This was getting better by the second... but then again... she needed a merger with the Morningway line. She could put up with a few things.

He laughed as he finished the steaks up and heaped them onto a platter. His cook had whipped up afew other things (slowly learning, much to his dismay, that his new employer would hardly ever be requesting fancy French dishes) and set them out. "I told you I was hungry." He said as he pulled a few steaks over onto his plate. "So is this the part where you lie and say you're a perfectly behaved young lady?"

"Heavens no. If I were would I be here with every intent of molesting you?" She asked as she served herself, and then handed him one of the bottles of beer.

He grinned. "Planning on getting me drunk and taking advantage?" He said with a laugh. "Now there's a first. Course, I'm better sober you know."

"Good to know..." She said and with a grin took the remainder of the six pack off the table.

"Ooh, that's harsh. You think I'm a lightweight and a six pack will do me in." Dean said. "Now I'm all insulted and everything, after I made dinner and all."

She laughed. "You were the one that said I was trying to get you drunk." She said. "If you're good, I'll put them back on the table." She teased.

"I'm very rarely actually a good boy, but put 'em back on the table anyway." He said with a smirk. "Besides, it's my painkiller of choice."

"I didn't say if you were a good boy, now did I?" She said but put them back anyway.

"No, you didn't." He said with a laugh. "Which is good, because I have no intention of being one." He said as he ate his steak. Hey, after surviving Tokyo, and the plane trip back and forth, if a beautiful woman wanted to 'molest' him, he was definitely game.

They bantered back and forth, both keeping it light intentionally. Banter lead to other things, which lead to articles of clothing trailing from the terrace to Dean's rooms.

Melissa was careful of his leg, but that didn't slow them down, as they played at wrestling for control. Giving and taking pleasure, heedless of time or the world around them.

Dean's leg either stopped bothering him, or he just forgot about it. For after a while, he didn't even feel an ache in it. Not that he slept, but his leg had little to do with that as the housekeeper picked up the tossed off clothes with a sigh.

She never had to do this when Justin Morningway was her boss! She doubted sex ever crossed the man's mind, so perhaps his nephew was making up for that now as she folded the clothes and left them outside Dean's bedroom door as the sun came up. She supposed, from the noises she heard inside, that they'd want a hearty breakfast and went to alert the cook.

Melissa purred in satisfaction and snuggled for just a moment as she watched the sun come in through his window. "I suppose you have to go in to the office today."

Dean turned his head and looked at the clock. "Yeah." He said with a chuckle. "Actually should have been there a half hour ago." But Donald would hold down the fort, it was no secret Dean wasn't a morning person. Basically because of activities like last night.

"Hmmm... then I suppose I should get up as well. " She said sitting up and stretching. "You can have the shower first since you actually have something to do this morning." She said running her hand down his chest.

He chuckled, and thought about sharing the shower, but he was already past the time when he could gracefully glide into the office without being attacked and tackled by department heads and the like that he had already kept waiting. And he did need a shower. "Thanks." He said. "You know, seeing as it's my shower and all." He teased as he got up, stretching as he padded off to the bathroom to get cleaned up for the day.

Melissa rose and pulled on the clothes that she had managed to come into the bedroom with, and looked down at the bed. Sex was such a messy act. She wondered that he engaged in it with a witch in the first place. She gathered the various samples she needed and tucked them away. 

She found the rest of her clothing outside the door and was dressed and tying her shoes when Dean came out of the shower. "I'm gonna clean up at home. I just remembered Legal is bringing that paperwork by this morning."

"Your legal department is sloppy." Dean said. "My people delivered it the morning I left. Or you're just stalling me." He said as he found some clothes to pull on with a chuckle. "I'll give you a call later." He said, with perfect sincerity. It was his usual line. But who knows? Last night was a ball, he just might at some point.

"This was my father's company. There are department heads that want my scalp for selling. I think they are hoping I will change my mind. Either way the papers will be signed and back to you this afternoon." She said and laughed softly at the line. "Does anyone actually believe you when you say that?" She asked, no accusation in her tone, just amusement. She was playing it casual still.

"Ouch. That hurt." He said. "Just for that, I should call you every hour on the hour." He said with a laugh as he found his boots and pulled them on, tying them as he chuckled. "You know, at least until your legal department issues a restraining order or something."

She laughed. "Somehow I can't see it." She said as she made sure she had all of her things, pausing to pick up one of her earrings that had come off on the pillows, and put it back in. "I will be pleased if you call." She told him leaning in to kiss him good bye. Not the tender sweet kiss of a girlfriend. More the hungry kiss that promised something more for later. "But I won't hold my breath." She winked at him as she headed for the door. 

He chuckled as he watched her go, and finished dressing. Then he went to grab breakfast, which the cook had made on the go for him, as he was late already, and tore off toward Morningway Enterprises. "Hey Donald." He said with a smirk. Sure, he was wearing a shirt, it covered most of the 'damage,' but there were a few red spots on his neck that were deepening in its red color as time went on. "I miss anything too important?" He knew he didn't. There was a reason everything 'important' was scheduled for afternoon.

"Nothing yet. We are still waiting for word from Sutherlands. Do you want us to write it off as a bad idea?" He asked as he handed over the reports that needed Dean's perusal. 

Dean flipped through the reports as he walked. "Not yet. I've got it on somewhat good authority the documents will be on their way this afternoon. If they're not here by four, write it off then." He said. "She seems fairly sure about selling."

Donald raised an eyebrow. "You've spoken with her recently?" He said looking pointedly at the marks on his neck. Not the usual bruising he came into work with. Certainly not the usual tooth prints. Those at least would raise eyebrows and not questions. "Well then I will prepare for the added paperwork the purchase will bring about."

"Wouldn't be a bad idea." Dean said with a smirk. "Hey, how's Harry's account doing? Has he touched any of the money in it, yet?" He knew Sam did, sparingly, but at least he acknowledged it was there. 

"Not at all. I stopped by to see him the other day. He actually has the word Wizard on his store front. Your uncle is spinning in his grave."

"Probably." Dean said neutrally. "Come on, there's no listing for demon hunter, don't see me hanging a shingle out." Dean said, shaking his head. Seemed the easiest way to get himself in trouble was for Harry to do that. 

"That is because somewhere along the way Justin managed to teach you a little common sense." Donald said.

SNDFSN

Melissa went into her study, and pressed the hidden latch to allow her to enter into her workshop as she liked to call it. Such an innocent name for it really.

Workshop.

Words were funny things. 

Enthralled. Enchanted. Captivated.

All such innocent sounding words in the modern era... to those that didn't know what they truly meant. Then again most people didn't know that there had ever been such a word as Thrall... or that it meant slave.

She took most of the componants she had gathered earlier, saving the rest in a jar for later if needed.

She started the concoction brewing. It was almost like making a potion. She started with Tequila as a base. Added a young woman's first cries of passion, and the ashes of an empassioned love letter. She had scoured antique shops and estate sales for the right one... a soldier during the civil war, writing to his beloved. She added a length of heavy chain, and the ashes of a slave's heart. Another ingredient that had cost her a small fortune and a great deal of time to get. She threw in the samples she had taken from Dean's bed, and watched as it boiled and bubbled into a thick goo as the hours passed.

She removed it from the fire and and added the last ingredient, holding her wand above directing the power into the pot and watched as it turned from sludge into deep rich honey colored amber.

She poured this into molds, one of a wand, and that of two rings. The wand she locked away in her vault for safe keeping. In case he got out of line in ways that his new found, over whelming love for her couldn't control. The rings she made to look worn, old, and put them on a chain around her neck for the time being. Then made her way out of the shielded workshop and went upstairs to busy herself with inconsequential things, while she waited.

Dean listened to his department heads drone on, until all he was hearing was 'yah yah yah yah.' Finally he looked at them all. "Out. Everyone leave, go away." He said, waving them out as he propped his feet up on the desk and reached for the phone. And when she finally picked up, he grinned. "Told you I'd completely harass you today." He said with a chuckle.

"So you did." She said with a smile. "Missed me that much, did you? People are gonna talk, you know." She said, with an affectionate tone. She was surprised at how quickly he contacted her. But she was definitely pleased.

"So you should have your legal department start the papers for the restraining order now. If they're as on top of that as they are about the sale papers, by the time I earn them, they might actually be ready to file." He said. "I could weird you out, ask you what you're wearing, but I'd rather know what you're doing later." 

"I had planned on swimming, maybe skinny dipping in the hot tub... funny thing about skinny dipping. It's not as much fun alone. What are you doing later?" She asked in return. 

"Once the papers from your guys come, I think I'll cancel every single appointment I have for the afternoon." He said with a laugh. "That's the great thing about being the boss, no one here can really tell me no."

"Then I will have to tell them to hurry up. What do you want for dinner tonight? I'll let the cook know to have it ready."

"Anything but raw fish or snails." He said with a laugh. He wasn't a picky eater, as long as it was cooked. He liked his steaks well done, and his fries crispy. That was about the level of his pickiness.

"I think we are good to go then, since you couldn't pay me to eat those things either." She said. "So... I will see you when you get here then." She liked how things were progressing. "I'm gonna get off the phone and nudge legal so that the papers get to you before the restraining order does. " She teased.

"Good idea." Dean said. "Talk to you after that." He said as he hung up the phone and told his secretary to cancel everything for the afternoon as he waited for the courier. 

The courier arrived within half an hour. He had simply been waiting on Melissa's call to head out the door.

Dean looked over the papers, called in his lawyer and had them notarized. That was that, Melissa's father's company now belonged to Dean. So he pushed it out of his mind, it wasn't important. Definitely didn't deserve front and center in his thoughts, which were quickly becoming occupied no matter how much he tried to pull his thoughts away.

Before he knew it, he was leaving the office and headed over to Melissa's, and was on her front steps.

A middle aged woman with a gentle face opened the door. "Mr Winchester?" The housekeeper asked. "Miss Sutherland is expecting you. " She said with a smile as she led him inside the home, and out toward the back terrace.

Dean followed her out and grinned when he saw Melissa. "Now, this is a tease on your part, you know." He said. "I was promised a naked woman, and you're fully clothes."

"Again...some things just aren't as much fun alone." She said with a smile. "Don't you prefer to unwrap your presents yourself?"

"Thought I did that last night." He said with a cocky grin. "But hey, at least I fed you first." Weird, that. He 'bought' (more or less, he did buy the food and the charcoal) dinner first. Every once in a while he could do something normal.

"Dinner will be ready soon. Would you like a beer and maybe a tour?" She asked him as she set aside the book she had been reading and walked toward him.

Dean had other things on his mind than a tour, most definitely. They never did get to that tour...

TMATMATMATMATMATMA

Bob watched Harry. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

"Harry, do stop pacing. I'm getting tired just watching you, and I'm a ghost." He said with exasperation.

"It's not like Dean to not show up." Harry said as he settled into his chair, fingers steepled in front of his face. "He should have been back from that hunt a couple of days ago too."

"Perhaps he was wounded. And is seeking refuge in a sorority house." Bob said. "If I were in a sorority house, I wouldn't answer your calls either. Women are infinitely better to...talk...to."

"Talking. Yeah that's what Dean does with women, he talks to them." Harry said. "Or he could be injured and wondering why no one knows he is missing yet." Harry didn't like that Dean went hunting alone.

"Then call the estate and see if he's arrived home. Or the office to see if he's there, hung over." Bob said. "Must I do all the thinking here?"

"I don't know... you seem to do all the bitching." Harry said with a faint chuckle. He picked up the phone and dialed the estate, where the house keeper told him that Dean had indeed returned from his hunt, but that she hadn't seen him since he had left for work earlier.

Then Harry dialed the office, but Dean wasn't in, and had apparently left early from work.

"There, you see? Your brother is acting like a normal young man of his generation. And there are times when I think you could take a page from his book. Or at least his black book. When WAS the last time you went out with a woman besides Murphy?"

"I don't go out with Murphy, and if you implied that I did where she could hear you.. we would both be toast, ghost or no ghost." He said and shook his head. "I go out just fine, I just don't see any need for you to watch." He didn't really date much. Every once in a while a young woman would catch his eye for an evening. But not often. Harry still too keenly felt the weight of Morgan's sword as it was poised over his head.

"Well, that's a shame." Bob said. "It would do you some good you know. But you see, he's fine. Probably enjoying the company of a woman right now, and they're most likely not talking philosophy or criminal justice."

"Yeah." Harry said and started to put away the extra set of dishes he had set out in preparation for Dean's arrival. "I need to get back to work anyway." He added. "Murphy needs this stuff ASAP."

"She needs everything ASAP, that one." Bob said. "It wouldn't hurt for her to relax once in a while either. You two suck the joy out of life for fun, you realize."

"She has people breathing down her neck is all. Besides, not like there is a whole lot else to do right now." Harry wasn't one to go out and socialize as Bob would have him do. Not anymore.

He picked up the file and looked at the crime scene photos again. He had intended to ask Dean for his help on this one, but it was probably best he didn't. This looked pretty hairy.

Bob was about to comment when Murphy came in, and barely managed to disappear in time. "What do you have for me?" She asked. No, she demanded.

"You're not gonna like it, Murph." He said and poured her a cup of coffee indicating that she sit down. "What do you know about... werewolves?" 

"Dresden, give me a break." Murphy said as she drank the coffee. She lived on the stuff. "Um...Michael Landon, Michael J Fox, think there was a sequel with the brother of the Family Ties girl...so you're saying it's...werewolves."

"Yeah, just not sure what kind yet." He said and began to explain the differences between a loup garou and a hexenwolf, and about a half a dozen different types in all. Some created with magic, some created by virtue of surviving an attack with the wrong sort.

"Wonderful." Murphy said. "You know, one of these times, I'm going to bring you a case, and you're going to say Murphy, it's a normal thing. Not something like this. One day, it will happen."

"Murphy... if it was a normal thing, you wouldn't bring it to me." Harry told her. "Hey, you hungry? Made extra for dinner tonight, was just about to sit down and eat."

"Sure." Murphy said. "Okay. Werewolves. So what do we do about them? Silver bullets or something?"

"Not that simple." He said. "Most of them die like everyone else. Regular old lead will do fine. Loup Garou... the nasty ones... well those require silver... inheirited silver. Can't just be something you get at a pawn shop and melt down into bullets. " He told his friend as he dished up two plates of food and sat down to join her once more. The evening wasn't a total loss. It was all work, but it beat spending the time alone.

"Well, I got plenty of lead." Murphy said. "So how do you know which one it is? Wait until you see them? Harry, they're not leaving eye witnesses."

"I know. Are the attacks limited to the full moon?" He asked, because the other wolves could change at will, not bound by a curse and the changes of the moon.

Murphy sighed. She didn't follow the phases of the moon closely. "Get me a calendar." She said, most had some sort of symbol which showed which phase the moon was in at any given time. She went through the file and wrote down the dates of the attacks as Harry got her a calendar. She marked with a check the days that had attacks. "No, they don't follow the moon pattern."

"Regular old lead will do. When you arrest them you have to be careful. They can turn at any time. Some of them have a charm they wear, others will have a pelt from a wolf made into something else to help them change. And Murph... some of them don't actually change... some of them are like the stories of the Berserkers out of old norse legend although those are more bear than wolf.. but that's neither here nor there. You gotta be careful."

"Do you ever have any good news?" She asked with a chuckle. "Dresden, I'm always careful. I leave the reckless stuff to you." She said as she ate. She'd been a cop so long, not even the crime scene photos could make her lose her appetite.

"What? I said you wouldn't need grandma's silver to kill the thing. With werewolves that's about as good as it gets." He said with a grin.

"I hate my grandmother's silver. I would have used it anyway." Murphy said with a laugh. "Okay, so where do I find them? Doubt they're going to leave flyers saying 'werewolf massacre tonight at the park' or whatever."

"That is the hard part. But these kinds of wolves don't have to kill. These bodies are there for a reason, and chances are they are connected some how to each other and to the wolves. Find that connection and it's a good start."

"Oh. Right." Murphy said with a wide eyed nod. "Because the crime library is just overwhelmed with information on the inner workings of a werewolf's mind. Okay, one step at a time. Ignoring the wounds, is there anything symbolic about the bodies? Positioning? Victim type?"

Harry looked over the pages again and got up went to get a book that looked as old as Bob, and looked through its fragile pages with a light touch. "This is not good." 

"Want to share with the class?" Murphy said as she helped herself to another cup of coffee. "I hate when you say that."

"I don't know if your wolf is a wizard or not... but someone involved in this is... or thinks they are...and not the bright and shiny let's help our fellow man and the cops type of wizard either." He sighed. I am so screwed, he thought, if Morgan catches me sniffing around this case and there is black magic involved, I am history. 

"Okay." Murphy said. "So there's possibly a second person involved in this. My night keeps getting better."

"Possibly second, possibly one in the same. But.. yeah... I'm sure if you figure out the connection with the victims, you'll have your man." Harry wanted to wash his hands of it. Let it go before he got himself killed. But this was Murphy, one of the few constants in his life. He couldn't literally toss her to the wolves.

Murphy nodded. "Well, that's something." Murphy said as she made some notations. On what to look for in the connection between the victims, if there was one. Sometimes crimes were random. the only connection between them might be that they were all in the wrong place at a very wrong time.

Harry took out a well used map of the city and opened it up. He took a pencil and marked down all the locations of the deaths and looking over the pattern there, finding a central location.

"You got something?" Murphy said, recognizing the look on Harry's face. Even if she didn't fully understand half of what came out of his mouth, at least he was helpful.

"Not sure, but it's something worth checking out." He said. "Centralized location between all the deaths. Animals hunt locally. In their own territory and these people are definitely animals when they kill. Which works as a theory if the wizard and the wolf are one in the same. "

"So, how do I fill out the paperwork?" Murphy asked with an amused look. "Request a stakeout for a werewolf...that's not exactly one of the multiple choices I'm offered. Do I call animal control?"

Harry laughed. "You already did." He said, and if he could get hold of Dean it would be a lot easier. "I'll take care of it, don't worry."

"Don't worry?" Murphy said with a laugh. "Yeah, okay. I'll try, how's that? You know, this dinner needs cheesecake. Know a spell for that one?" 

"No." He said. "But I know a great place to go get cheese cake." He told her with a smile.

"Now you're kissing up to me." She said with a chuckle. "Come on, let's go get cheesecake so I can figure out how to pass werewolves off as official police business." At this rate, she was nearly going to go for a career change, to a speech writer for a slimy politician or something!

He grabbed his jacket and walked to the door holding it open for Murphy. "Believe me if I knew a spell for cheese cake, I would be sitting on easy street."

"Yeah, you would." Murphy said with a chuckle as they headed down the street to a coffee shop. "Oh yeah, next time your cousin comes to the station looking for you, tell him to completely bypass booking. Because he distracted Michelle for two hours." She said. Had happened a month ago, but it had seriously jammed things up.

Harry laughed. "Yeah he has that effect on women. " He said. "Dean was supposed to come by tonight, but I suspect he is batting those eyes at a woman instead."

"Hey, whatever keeps him from being underfoot." She said with a chuckle. "You should work on that cheesecake spell though."

"I'll give it some thought although something as addictive as cheese cake might be considered black magic to mass produce." He said as he opened the door to the coffee shop he liked to frequent when money was good.

Murphy had to laugh. "Okay, so making cheesecake readily available is a no no, but some wizard, who is either the werewolf or teamed up with one, doing some hinky things involving death and mutilation gets a free pass?" She asked.

"No... he shouldn't be getting a free pass, but sometimes people are so good at hiding the evil that they do, that there is no way to prove that they do it until they get cocky enough to make a mistake."

"Sounds like our two worlds aren't so different." Murphy said with a sigh. Sometimes it felt like she wasn't even making the smallest dent. Like a drop of water in the ocean.

"Unfortunately people are people the world over. A little magic just makes some things a lot easier... others not so much." He said as a nearby lightbulb fizzled out.

"You're right. And I like my microwave." She said with a laugh as the light bulb died. They got their cheesecake and a table.

"I miss microwaves." He said. "But that's fine. I like what I am. So how are things going, Murphy, really going?"

"They're going." She said with a shrug as she ate her cheesecake. "You know, normal. I'm the department joke of course, but they don't comment when I get cases solved. That sort of thing."

"Yeah, most people don't want to believe... and if they did they'd freak even more. Not everyone is cut out to know... ya know."

"Oh believe me, I know." She remembered a time when she didn't know, and strangely, it was a comforting time. A whole lot less to be afraid of and to be on the watch for.

Harry, like Dean, had very little memory of the time when he didn't have knowledge of the world that most ignored around them. "I'll call Dean and get him to help me on this one. We'll get it taken care of."

"Thank you." Murphy said. She wanted the killings to stop. And her department couldn't do it, as much as they believed to the contrary. But there was a small piece of them that knew that, else she never would have been able to contract out to Harry.

He chatted with Murphy over things that didnt matter for awhile, letting the dark mood and talk of werewolves pass. Then he walked her back to her car. "I'll call ya tomorrow." He said before going inside and picking up the phone to try Dean's cell phone once more.

Dean answered, finally. And in a cheerful mood at that. "What's up, Harry?" He asked. He never did get around to eating dinner. Then he remembered. "Oh shit, sorry man. Kinda got...caught up...you know." It wasn't the first time Dean had lost track of time with a woman. It was the first time, however, that he hadn't answered his phone.

"Yeah I figured." Harry said, trying not to let it bother him. He was a little sensitive where the boys were concerned. They were his family now, and it was rough considering how much they loved Justin. The last year had been touchy all the way around. "Murphy seems to be having some werewolf trouble." He said getting to the point, letting it slide. "You want in? "

"Hell yeah." Dean said. "Sounds like fun. Know what kind or not?" So he knew what to bring.

"Looks Hexen Wolf-ish at the moment. Not moon based, deaths take place around a centralized area. Not sure of anything else yet, except I think there might be a wizard involved somewhere. So, I'll be hooking you up with one of my shields."

"Dude, no wonder you called. Wizard? Black magic? You go near it, Morgan will be all over you." Dean said. "Sure, where we going to?"

"Can;t ignore it either. " He said. "Cause then I'm condoning it." He laughed at the tightrope that was his life. His own doing really. He could have just laid down and died. That would have suited Morgan and the council just fine. One less Morningway to deal with. "Meet me over at my place. We'll go over the file Murphy dropped off see if you pick up on something I missed."

"Sure, be over in a bit." Dean said and looked at Melissa as he hung up the phone. "Gotta go." He said. "My cousin needs some help." It wasn't a secret in the magical circles that the non magical Morningway descendant had his own way of doing things to cause the Council headaches. 

"Dresden isn't in trouble again is he? I don't want you going off and getting killed by the council because of him." It was also no secret in the magical circles, the highly placed magical circles, how Justin Morningway died. The council made sure of that.

"Well, if I don't go, then Harry gets in trouble. If I do go, he doesn't. Me? Eh, not so worried." Dean said as he reached for his clothes. "Probably won't take long."

"Okay." She said, stretching as she watched him dress. "I'll be waiting." As much as she wanted to forbade him to go, she couldnt. for one it would take time for her power over him to grow that strongly. For another it would be suspicious if he suddenly stopped rushing to the aid of his family. "Hurry back."

"Do my best." He said as he finished. He leaned over and kissed her, nearly changed his mind, but headed over to Harry's. "Okay, dude, whatcha got for me?" He said as he came in.

Harry pulled out the file, and the notes he and Murphy had made in their own pow wow session. "So what's her name?" Harry asked with a smile, figuring he might as well beat Bob to it. The ghost would be wanting details that Harry could do without knowing however.

"Melissa." Dean said with a grin as he took the notes and started to look them over. "She's something else, gotta tell ya." He said with a chuckle. "Hey, Bob, I'm gonna talk about my sex life. Wanna come out?"

Harry laughed, not at all surprised when Bob made an appearance. "Okay, so tell us about this Melissa that has you turning off your phone, and missing dinner with the family."

"My phone was on. I just chose not to answer it. Hands were a little busy, I tell ya, she's insatiable. Doesn't need a break or anything. Never mind that I just took over her father's company and she still went out with me. Twice." Dean said as he went through Harry's fridge for left overs, sharing some explicit details for Bob's benefit, poor guy. 

"You went out with a girl... twice?" Harry asked and looked at Bob raising an eye brow. "She must be something. Melissa huh... and you even know her last name since you took over the company... and your eyes are... different. You've got it bad."

"You're insane. There's nothing wrong with my eyes. And I know lots of girls' last names." Dean said as he made himself a sandwich. "So when do you want to do this?"

"Deftly changing the subject, avoids the real question, oh yes, bad indeed." Bob remarked.

Harry nodded in Bob's direction. "How many of those girls have you gone out with twice?" He asked as he grabbed his jacket and stuffed a drum stick in the pocket with one hand while reaching for the hockey stick with the other.

"Dude, you need both of them?" Dean said with a chuckle. "I was only planning on packing one gun. Might have to go for the whole arsenal at this point." He was avoiding the question, definitely. But that was okay.

"There is a wizard involved practicing black magic. Yes I need both. " Harry said. "And you haven't dated anyone more than twice since high school, have you?" 

"See you later, Bob." Dean said as they walked out to the Impala. Because Dean refused to ride in the Blue Beetle if he could help it. "Dude, you're obsessed. So, black magic. Should I go for kill or go for tranqs?"

"Tranqs." Harry said. "Less paper work for Murphy that way." He said with a grin. "And more fun for Morgan. I swear that guy lives to take heads. Think he saw Highlander once too often?" 

"Dude, that guy has an unnatural fascination with beheading." Dean said with a chuckle. "But fine, for Murph we'll keep it down to a dull roar. So, Murphy. You know, you should try. She's got some serious MILF action going there."  
"MILF?" Harry asked, not up on all the lingo. "And she's just a friend. Sometimes men and women, really can just be friends." Bob was always at him to try for Murphy, but it just didn't seem right.

"Mother I'd like to.." Dean said with a chuckle, knowing Murphy had a daughter. "Come on, never thought it, not even once?"

"No." Harry said honestly. "I don't see Murphy that way. We're friends. That's where I need her to stay. " He wasn't celibate by a long shot. He had lovers. Not that Bob would be satisfied until he had something steady. "And don't you think about her that way either. It would just be... weird."

"Weird? I'd be dead. She'd shoot me. She's already waiting for me to end up on the wanted list you know." Dean said with a laugh. "Don't worry, your friend's virtue is safe from me." He said as he parked the Impala at the spot designated on the map in Harry's hand. Dean got out and went to the trunk. He'd inherited everything in the trunk from his father, and his father had an arsenal in here the army would be jealous of. It had taken him a bit, but he'd gotten all the guns back up to working order, though he had to have some of the knives replaced. "Okay, tranqs." He said, digging through the rocksalt, buckshot, iron and silver bullets until he came to the tranqs and loaded them up. "Let's do this."

"Right." Harry said and drew out the drum stick, and then took off his shield bracelet and snapped it on Dean's wrist. He had the pentagram around his neck. It would be enough for him. "So tell me about this girl you stood me up for."

"Man, I hate this thing." Dean grumbled about the shield bracelet. "I have my own protections you know." But he shrugged as they carefully moved into the woods. "What do you want me to say? She's cuter than you are. Hell yeah I'd stand you up for her. So many good points. She's cute, she's fun, she's smart, and not only is she NOT related to me, but she's willing to get naked for me too."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know ... but that won't stop all the spells out there. Some of them it won't do a damned bit of good against." Of course the same could be said of that shield bracelet... then again it had stopped bullets once. "Just say thank you and tell me something non sexual about this woman of yours. Like... is she girlfriend material or is she repeated lay material?"

"Fine. Thank you. She has brown eyes and lightish brownish golden type colored hair. Nonsexual enough for you?" Dean said as he scanned the woods, looking for trails. He could track with the best of them.

"That's all you know about her?" Harry asked as he followed Dean, letting him handle the tracking. That didn't sound right. Not for how into her Dean seemed to be. Maybe he was wrong and it was just a sex thing. He did say she was something else. 

"You said nonsexual, remember?" Dean said with a wink as he followed some tracks he'd found. Eyes peeled, all senses on alert...he might not be magical like everyone else in his surviving family, but some things you didn't need magic for. Just training, and he had had plenty of that.

"Oh, so she isn't anyone all that special then." He said with a nod, figuring now that the girl was just another of his conquests. "How's Sam doing?" Harry asked. "Last I heard Jessica was moving in with him."

"She's plenty special." Dean said as he carefully cleared away some underbrush. "Yeah, I talked to him two days ago, Jess scared the shit out of him when she started bringing home paint and fabric samples, and asking him to pick which one he liked." Dean said with a chuckle. "Sammy's getting domesticated already."

Harry laughed softly. "Not even old enough to drink legally yet and he's already domesticated." He shook his head. "Well at least there are two bachelors left in the family to take up the slack. Not that Sam was ever really confirmed bachelor material." 

"Nah, Jessica had him whipped in ten minutes flat when he was nine." Dean said with a laugh as he hushed Harry up and raised his shot gun to be ready. "I think I hear him."

Harry nodded, wand at the ready. He didn't know if the wolf was the wizard or the wizard was controlling the wolf. Either way it was going to be dicey if the wizard were in the vicinity.

Dean crouched down and made sure his gun was ready. Tranq loaded, it had been a while since he'd used tranqs actually. And saw the hairy creature prowling, then lunging for him. He shot the tranq, then another. The creature slowed, allowing Dean to reload and shoot him again. And still the wolf kept coming, dropping at his feet.

Harry moved forward then, speaking the words of the spell, and aiming the drum stick at the creature. A band around its waist glowed and Harry removed the wolf skin pelt from the creature, allowing it to revert to human form. "Don't suppose you have Murphy on that phone of yours?" Would still have to find evidence to link the man to the killings but that was more Murphy's purview .

"Yeah I do." Dean said. He had it to call Murphy in times like this. He dialed up Murphy and waited for her to answer. "Hey, it's Dean Winchester, I'm here with Harry, we bagged that wolf of yours." They chatted about it for a bit. "She says hi." He said to Harry after he hung up. "And she'll be over with some cops to take possession of him and all that. So is he the wizard or are we still looking?"

"We're still looking." Harry said with a frown. "Which means this may not be the last murder." He told his cousin. "I've still got to ferret him out. But," he said handing over the pelt. The last thing he wanted was to be caught with the damned thing in his hands when Morgan started sniffing around. "I am handing this over to you for safe keeping."

"Safe keeping?" Dean said as he took it. "Can't I just burn it?" He asked. It would get rid of a lot of problems, that was for sure.

"Yeah, but I want to see if I cant come up with a spell to trace it back to the original source, but you know what morgan will do if its in my hands." 

"Dude, why don't we give it to Morgan and let him do the hard work?" Dean asked. "I mean, seriously, if this wizard guy's into the black arts, you need to be as far away from it as possible. Especially when Morgan finds out. And he will, because he's your own personal stalker."

"Morgan doesn't do anything the council doesn't tell him to do. He says and I quote, he isn't my pitbull." 

"Oh, okay." Dean said. "So we'll just try not to get you mixed up in this, because the council will tell him to go all MacLeod on your ass."

"And if I don't get mixed up in it, the next time this guy does something he comes knocking at my door because we all know all black magic originates with me." He said rolling his eyes.

"Have I told you lately how glad I am NOT to be all magical and crap?" Dean said with a laugh. "Because if I haven't, I'm really really glad. Okay, so we'll wait for him to wake up and interrogate him. Did you bring snacks?"

"No, I had dinner." Harry said. "It was a good dinner too." Had to rub it in that he had been stood up after all.

"Dude, I said I was sorry." Dean said with a shake of his head. "I'll catch drive through on the way home then. Since you're going to be a brat and all."

Harry laughed. "No you're not. You're still spitting canary feathers."

"You seriously have to get off your animal fascination. Drag me out here for a dog, and now you're making cat references." Dean said. "Maybe you just need to get laid. Bob's got a point."

"Dean... I get laid plenty. I just don't announce it. Bob isn't interested in how often I get laid, he is interested in whether or not he can watch."

"Okay, okay. Fine." Dean said with a chuckle as the wolf started to wake up. Well, human now. "Looking for this?" Dean said, holding the pelt and keeping it out of reach. "We got some questions for you."  
The man pushed himself up and eased back on his haunches to stare at the two of them, something still very feral in his eyes. "What questions?" He asked, looking between the two men, then locking eyes with Dean.

Dean wasn't looking at the man. He wasn't that dumb. He was staring at a point on his forehead, but he saw what the man was trying to do. "Okay, soul gaze. Nice move. Completely rookie though. Call Morgan, Harry."

"Or he's gone too feral and is trying to assert dominance." Harry said with a shrug and sent up a spell to summon Morgan. Either way, probably wouldn't hurt to get Morgan in on it, even though it meant he had to deal with the man's accusations. 

Dean waited, with his bootclad foot at the man's throat, for Morgan to appear. And like always, he wasn't happy about being summoned.

"Dresden, I am not your pitbull." Morgan said.

"Werewolf." Dean said. "Nasty bugger." He tossed the file to Morgan. "Either he's the wizard or he's working for one. Kinda sucks to be you, doesn't it? Means there's another one that flew under your radar." Meaning his uncle, who had been practicing the black arts for...no one really knew how long, except for Bob, and he wasn't talking.

Harry handed over the pelt. "What is it you do again?" Harry asked, glaring at Morgan. There were times when he was content to twitch and hope the man just walked away but those times were fading into a distant memory. "I was under the impression that black magic was something you wanted to investigate."

Morgan took the pelt and the case file, looking it over, glancing at Harry as he did. "And this is none of your doing?" He asked, his tone quite clear that he wouldn't believe him anyway.

"Dude, if it was, do you really think he'd ask me to help him track down the werewolf?" Dean scoffed.

"It would be a good cover." Morgan said.

"Oh get over it, Morgan." Harry said, having had enough. "Generally black magic isn't equated with a werewolf. It would not be a good cover, it would be a rookie mistake. You don't want to do your damned job, that's fine. I'll do it for you."

"Now, now boys. Can't we all just get along?" Dean said with a smirk.

"Shut up, Winchester." Morgan snapped. "Fine, I'll take the werewolf into custody now."

"Thank you." Harry said and turned to walk away. He was sick to death of Morgan and his suspicion. Some days he just wanted that damned Doom of Damocles to be enacted and get it over with. If the council had been half as interested in black wizards as they claimed, his father would still be alive.

Dean waited until Morgan had the man under control then caught up with Harry. "Dude, now there's a man who has to get laid. Maybe we should buy him a hooker for his birthday."

"No woman deserves that." Harry grumbled. "And you and Bob really need to ... find a new obsession."

Dean laughed as they headed back to the Impala. "Well, I get it too much some would say, and poor Bob can't get it at all. I don't know, if I find an amorous ghost and it's female, I'll send her Bob's way."

"You do and they can live with you." Harry said with a laugh. Then tilted his head a little. "Or we can ship them out to Sam." 

"Ooh, Jessica would not go for that one." Dean said with a laugh. "She's housebreaking Sam, not sure she wants to housebreak Bob and a girlfriend too."

"House breaking Sam. You know you would think the way he was raised he would already be house broken... but then this is Jessica. The girl is Better Homes and Gardens all the way." 

"She's a diehard Martha Stewart minion. I'm still gathering intel on that woman. Martha I mean. I swear she's a brainwashing demon." Dean said with a chuckle. "Okay, here we are." He said as he pulled back up in front of Harry's place.

"Thanks for the help. Come on in... I got an extra beer with your name on it." He said as he got out of the Impala, a car that thankfully was old enough he couldn't destroy.

"Nah, I'm gonna head back to Melissa's." Dean said, completely unaware of how absolutely out of character it was for him to say anything resembling that. "Let me know how the Morgan thing works out."

Harry paused a moment. "So when do we get to meet your Helen of Troy?" He asked. Dean was sending up alarm bells. But he didn't want to assume, and humiliate the man if it was just a case of love at first sight.

Dean chuckled. "Probably soon." Dean said. "Course that means you'd have to clean yourself up and come to that fundraiser." Morningway Industries did an annual black tie ball for charity, their uncle had started it. Dean always went, even if he snuck right back out after having been seen to be present. Now...he might stick for most of it.

"And here I thought we were family." Harry said with a chuckle of his own. "And here you are wanting to put me in a penguin suit with a lot of people staring at me. Thanks... love you too."

"Dude, if I have to go, you're going. I'm dragging Sammy back from California for it too. You two can bitch together." Dean said with a chuckle. "Besides, it's good publicity for everyone right? Looks good for the company, that sort of good works looks good for Sam on his grad school applications, and being a charitable person with photographic evidence might get you some luck with the ladies."

"I don't need help in the romance department, and certainly not with the blue blooded gold diggers that would be at that party." Harry pointed out. "But if that's the only way to meet this woman you are smitten with, I'll go."

"Hell yeah. It's called blackmail dude." Dean said. "So might want to start getting cleaned up now."

Harry scowled playfully. "Go on, get back to round 2, thanks for the help tonight." He said.

"You're welcome. It was fun." Dean said with a laugh as Harry got out of the car and he drove back to Melissa's and let himself in. Then let himself back into her bedroom, where he spent the next couple of days. 


	5. Chapter 5

Sam adjusted his tie. He hated tuxedos with a passion. He wasn't even sure he wanted to get married in one... when they eventually got around to getting married. School first, marriage later. Even though money was no object that wasn't the point. It was just how things were done, and in some things Sam was old fashioned.

But no matter how much he hated the tux, and hated fund raisers, he was trapped into this one, because this was the one and only time it seemed that he and Harry would be allowed to meet this mystery woman that had Dean so infatuated.

"You look great." Jess assured him as she straightened his tie once more and batted his hands away from it again. "Come on, maybe if we get there early, meet her early, we can duck out early." She said with a michevious grin.

Sam smiled. "Sounds good. I'm glad he's found someone but, to be honest, it bothers me that he is so wrapped up in her that he doesn't have time for anyone else."

Jess laughed. "Come on, Sam. Your brother was a slut up until her. First woman that managed to capture his attention longer than it takes to screw her, he's just going overboard because it's all new." Jess said. "It'll wear off eventually. Just let him show her off and all."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure you're right." He said. "Let's go. Harry says he'll even put in an appearance. I can't believe Harry hasn't even met her yet."

"That is a little weird." Considering Harry and Dean were in the same city and all. "I'm sure there's an explanation that makes sense to Dean though. Come on, let's get all the good champagne before it's gone."

They arrived at the party, and it was in full swing, even though they were on time. "So much for fashionably late." Sam said as he looked around. 

"Come on, let's dance before the boring speeches start." Jess said with a smile, taking Sam's hand. An easy way to look for Dean as well, and have fun doing it. It was about two songs later when Jess finally spotted Dean and tapped Sam's shoulder. "Wow, she's pretty." Jess said, about the girl standing with Dean, in the green dress.

"Yeah, I guess so." Sam said with a nod. He couldn't help but be a little jealous, even though he knew it was childish. But he used to talk to his brother all the time. Phone calls at least twice a week, even during finals or if Dean were on a hunt. Since he had started dating Melissa, he didn't hear from him at all unless he instigated it and even then Dean was off the phone as quickly as possible. He kept telling himself this was normal, but the fact was it wasn't. Not for Dean

"Hey!" Dean said as he spotted his brother and his brother's girlfriend. "Had my doubts on whether you'd make it. We all hate these things." He said with a chuckle. "Honey, this is my brother Sam, and his girlfriend Jessica. Jess, Sam, this is Melissa." He said with obvious pride and affection.

"It's nice to meet you." She said with a sweet politeness that somehow set Sam's teeth on edge, but he told himself it was just the jealousy talking.

"Hi." He said smiling broadly, even if he only half meant it. "Glad to meet you, finally. You've managed what we all thought was impossible."

"Dude, people get married every day. Remember, there's four years difference, so when you're my age you'll probably already be married." Dean said with a chuckle. "I'm just engaged." He said and took Melissa's hand to show him the ring. "Asked her last night, she said yes."

Sam felt as though he had been sucker punched. Dean hadn't even mentioned that he was actually in love much less that he was going to ask her to marry him. "Congratulations." He said, and swallowed. "Welcome to the family."

Dean beamed as Jessica looked between the two Winchesters, then smiled at Melissa. "It'll be great not being the only girl anymore. So is there a date set yet?"

"We're still working on that. Sometime next month is what we are planning on but we'll see how it goes." Melissa said.

"Not waisting any time." Sam said with a nod. The following month was hectic for him, but he would find a way to make it. If his brother remembered to tell him when the date was, since he couldn't be bothered to tell him he was in love. Stop being petty, Sam. He told himself. "Hey, there's Harry. I'll be back, gonna go grab him before he bolts for the door." Without me, he added silently.

"So, wow, this is all sudden." Jess said. "At least to us. We knew he was seeing someone, but..." She said. "We're in college in California. Sometimes we're not as up to date as we should be." She said, proud of herself how free of recrimation that came out.

"Oh definitely sudden. Whirlwind, the whole nine." Dean said with a chuckle. "That's half the fun."

"So you've known Dean a long time then? He said his brother was living with his childhood friend. Does this mean you're the one I talk to about all those embarrassing details of growing up?"

"Oh definitely." Jess said with a smile. "And what I didn't witness, I got second hand from Sam, which usually made it a better story anyway." Something was definitely off about Dean.

"Whoa, no need to do that." Dean said with a laugh.

"Some things are just customary." Sam said as he came back, with Harry along side him. Things like telling your little brother you are in love, or maybe sharing with him that you were going to ask the woman of your dreams to marry you. But then... maybe it's what happened in normal families when you move away to college. Maybe out of sight out of mind was normal.

In which case Sam was anything but normal, and it hurt like hell.

"I understand congratulations are in order." Harry said. 

"Hey, Harry." Dean said. "Thanks, man." He said, shaking his cousin's hand. The night went on like that, with Sam, Jess and Harry being relegated to the sidelines. Jessica looked at her boyfriend and his cousin.

"She's too perfect." She said. "I mean, look at Dean. He looks comfortable. In a tuxedo. It's not natural."

"I gotta get out of here." Sam said, unable to keep the hurt from his voice.

"Sam." Harry said. "This isn't Dean. You know he isn't ignoring you on purpose."

"Of course he is." Sam said in return. "But I'm... I'm 20 years old, I can handle my big brother not being glued to my side. I hate these parties. The only reason I am here is Dean and he won't even notice I've left." He had barely noticed that Sam had arrived.

"You're right, Harry. That is so not Dean." Jess said worriedly. "Sam, you think that's your brother? Could be one of those body snatchers for all we know. I bet Dean's met some freaky characters on his hunts."

"This whole relationship has had me worried for a while now." Harry said. "Hell I just heard about her two weeks ago" 

"Yeah... that's about a week longer than me. He hasn't called me lately, I had to track him down cause I was worried something had happened on one of his hunts. " Sam said shaking his head

"Look... Sam... we'll sort this out." Harry said.

"What's to sort out? Dean is in love, he is getting married, I should be happy for him and I'm pouting like a little kid. Dean need to remember his family and I need to grow up. Situation sorted out." He said reaching for his 3rd glass of champagne.

"Baby, maybe you should slow down." Jessica said as she watched her boyfriend worriedly. "I'm sure there's a logical explanation for this. Maybe he's on a bender and when he sobers up he'll realize how much of an ass he's being."

"If I have to stand here and watch this any longer, I am going to be the one on a bender. " Sam said. "He knows where to find me if he wants me." And for the first time in Sam's life the IF was an actual possibility, not just a replacement for when.

Something was off but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what it was. Which was why he kept putting it aside in his head, thinking it was just himself being petty and jealous.

Jess shook her head. "Well, it was nice seeing you, Harry." She said apologetically as she grabbed her purse.

"Why don't the two of you meet me back at my place?" He said. "I'm gonna say my good byes but I want to talk to you two about some things."

Sam nodded. "Sure, give me time to get out of this penguin suit first." 

Jess winked at Harry. Someone had to lighten the mood. "Give us a LOT of time if I'm the one getting him out of it." She said with a grin. "Tell Dean we said bye." She said, taking Sam's arm before he could find another drink.

Harry made his way through the crowd to his cousin. "Hey, can I steal you away for a moment?" He asked, a quick glance toward the door, showing Jess and Sam leaving.

"Yeah, sure." Dean said, a bit distracted but went off to the side with Harry. "God I hate these things." He said with a chuckle, but he wasn't miserable or borderline surly about being here. "What's up? Hey, where'd Sam go?"

"You noticed, huh?" Harry said, not feeling the need to keep things inside the way Sam did. "You know... it's one thing to shut me out of the major events in your life. I get that one. I blew the right to know last year. It's entirely different to shut your brother out. You hurt Sam pretty badly tonight."

"Dude, what are you _talking_ about?" Dean snapped. "I asked her last night. Two o'clock in the morning actually. Then, well, we celebrated. I love you two, but I don't want to celebrate that way with you two. Besides, I don't see the big deal about it. He's not going to ask me if it's okay to marry Jessica, you didn't ask us if it was okay to kill Uncle Justin. We're all adults here. I'm not shutting him out. If I was, I wouldn't have told him at all."

"I was a little busy trying not to die to ask for permission, and that was below the belt." Harry said, not taking offense so much as being floored by the fact that Dean would even say such a thing. "You didn't tell him the woman existed until last week. He had to track you down for you to say that much to him. You know... your lives have changed a lot since you two were little boys on the road, but I hadn't thought your relationship was one of them until tonight. "

"Oh no. You're not making me out to be the bad guy because I chose not to lay my personal life on the dissection table." Dean said. "Why can't you guys just be happy for me? I've got a great girl, the business is doing well, you two are alive and well...why can't that be enough?"

"So sharing your life with your brother is putting your life up for dissection now? Maybe we kinda had this thought that we were part of that life. Who knew?" Harry said. "... I'm glad you're happy. Sam is glad you're happy. But you know what? You keep on shutting people out and she had better be one helluva woman cause she's all you're gonna have left. There is only so much you can close people out before they just don't come asking anymore. " Harry turned to leave, he was getting angrier by the minute, and this was sounding less like Dean every time he opened his mouth.

Dean shook his head and returned back to the party. Harry and Sam wanted to be that way? Fine.

Jessica and Sam were waiting at Harry's apartment when he got there. "I ordered pizza." She said, since they'd all left before dinner was served. "So how'd it go with Dean?"

Harry relayed the conversation. "I actually wanted to hit the man." He said. "Hey Bob." He called out. "Need to pick your brain."

Bob appeared. "That seems to be the only reason for my existence." He said mournfully as he greeted Jessica and Sam. "What can I help with?" He asked, in a bored tone.

"Nothing." Sam said going to the fridge to get a beer that he probably shouldn't be drinking. "Harry thinks something is wrong, I think Dean and I are just drifting apart and I was too stupid to see it coming." It was normal. His college buddies were always talking about the brother that they didn't get along with. Some had family that they didn't talk to for months at a time.

"Sam, that isn't it." Harry insisted, then laid out the details for Bob. 

Bob listened. "So it's perfectly normal for Dean to meet a woman and ask her to marry him within two weeks? And you believe that." He said, looking at Sam. "Children."

"He's only known her for two weeks?" Sam asked. "When he called and mentioned her the ... well... only time... he made it sound like ... that isn't like Dean at all. Why would he..."

"Magic is what I am thinking. " Harry said.

"Unfortunately a basic love spell isn't black magic. " Sam said taking a seat. Not really. Love didn't over ride a person's will. They might do stupid things but they were still in control of what they did.

"What if it's not so basic?" Jessica asked. "I mean, your basic love spell would just ensure a guy like Dean calls when he half heartedly promises to call. She's got a huge rock on her finger."

"That gets trickier... and is harder to counter. Dean won't cooperate at all... and if the spell caster sorts out that we've figured it out... it could get dangerous." Sam said.

"Then I guess we have to make sure she doesn't find out, and we need an excuse for you to stay in town a while longer." Harry said.

"Okay, well, they just announced their engagement. I'll take her out for lunch. Get to know her and all." Jessica suggested. "It's perfectly innocuous and completely believable."

Sam nodded. "Be careful. " He said worriedly. "In the mean time we have to figure out what kind of spell it was and how to undo it."

"Sounds good." Jessica said.

"I'll consult my endless store of knowledge." Bob said. "Perhaps some digging on this Melissa person would be good?"

"Yeah, I will see what I can find out though the council records." Sam said. "Jess can find out what her public face is... you two figure out what sort of spell it would have to be to alter his personality."

"Sounds good." Jess said. "Don't worry, we'll figure it out. But the first person to call me Nancy Drew gets castrated."

"I don't know... Dean and I were called the Hardy boys a time or two." He said with a laugh. After all it wasn't as though Sam had never accompanied Dean on a hunt.

Jessica laughed. "Okay, I'll give Dean a call tomorrow and hound him for Melissa's number. He'll be touched and flattered."

"Yeah. He might even talk to you." Sam said with a laugh. "He probably won't be at the estate, she probably doesn't let him out of her sight right now. So there isn't much chance of me seeing him."

"I bet he'll be at the office." Jessica said with a wrinkle of her nose. "Afterall, he's gotta support her in the manner in which she'd like to become accustomed to, right? I'll call...no, I'll stop by first thing. And since it's not to talk to him, I've got a chance at getting through. See if I can get some hair for you guys or something too."

"Good. I'm pretty sure there are some of Dean's at the house... see if I can't come up with some sort of protection spell for him just in case she freaks when things start to go south."

TMATMATMATMATMATMA

Jessica woke up, kissed Sam, and headed for Dean's office. Where, surprisingly, he was. "Hey." She said with a smile. "We didn't get to talk much last night."

And a scowl crossed Dean's face. Why couldn't Sam just be happy for him? "Yeah, about that..."

"Look, I think it's great. It just threw us all for a loop is all. So I want to make it up to you. Or, rather, Melissa. You know, take her out to lunch, get to know the latest woman in the family." She said with a smile and Dean relaxed. At least someone was being reasonable about this. So he gave her Melissa's number, and Jess set up a date at a local cafe. Nice and casual, low key and low tech. She grabbed a table and waited.

Melissa didn't really want to go. She wanted these people out of Dean's life. The wizards couldn't be allowed the opportunity to sort it all out. "Hi." She said as she joined the woman. "Thank you for the invitation."

"No problem." Jess said with a friendly smile. She looked at the ring again and whistled. "I still can't believe it!" She said with a laugh. "But, on the other hand, it will be so good to have another woman in the clan. I am definitely feeling outnumbered by the testosterone of that group." 

"They are definitely manly crew, arent they?" Melissa said with a laugh."Although to be honest, the boys upset Dean last night. I don't know what was going on, but it really hurt him that Sam was so stand offish."

"Sam's the baby brother of the group." Jessica said. Because she had to make nice with this woman. "I think he's also extremely territorial. I'm sure he'll be fine, he just never deals well with surprises. And this was definitely a surprise. I honestly don't know whether to congratulate you or send you my condolences early!" Anyone who knew Dean knew he was a handful. Of course, up until two weeks ago, he was also a hard core womanizer. "But maybe that boy needs to be tamed before he gets himself hurt or arrested." 

"Tamed is a good word. Not sure how likely that is to happen but I like the sound of it." She said with a faint laugh. "Okay, so dish... I have to know all the embarrassing stories that normally you would get from a mother in law to be."

Jess laughed as their coffee came. "The worst thing he ever did to me, I was sixteen. God I had such a crush on Sam. Their uncle was still alive then, so they'd have these huge parties all the time. So I was in this beautiful white dress, my first grown up dress. Hair all piled up on my head, curls coming down, I looked hot." She said. "So Dean, while I was dancing with Sam, spiked my punch with food coloring. Sam and I had green teeth for the rest of the night, and no one said a thing. Until the pictures that Dean managed to take came in the mail. Yeah, that's who you're marrying."

Melissa laughed. "Oh my... I knew he had a wicked sense of humor, just didn't know how wicked. One of the many things I will get to discover as time goes on, I suppose."

"And I'll sit back and laugh. Because hopefully he's found a new target other than Sam. Those two have been thicker than thieves Sam's whole life." Jess said. "I don't know, guess he never figured Dean would move someone else into his life. Neither did I, but for different reasons."

"Well... I hope that Sam can adjust... cause I'm here to stay, I love Dean. We're going to make a life together. I mean... I'm marrying into a magical family yes but the man is a magical null zone... I'm risking my children not being wizards... that should tell you that I do love him. "

"Sam will be fine. Just give him time to adjust. Kick back a few beers with Dean, all will be good. Because Dean's a charmer, even with Sam." Jess said with a laugh. "Magical Null Zone. That should almost be a pet name."

Melissa laughed. "So what about you and Sam? Are there wedding bells in the future or just taking things as they come?" 

"Well, it's definitely in my plans. I hope they're in his plans. We're just...going to get through school first. That's the big thing, takes up enough time as it is. From there, we'll see. Don't worry, we won't be trying to steal your wedding day from you. So...why Dean?"

She smiled. "Well... he is handsome, charming, makes me laugh... and he isn't interested in my bank account or my wand." Melissa said. Never mind that she was interested in his, and the wand he could never wield.

"He's also obnoxious, sarcastic, kinda anti magic establishment, and has some hobbies I wouldn't want Sam into." Jess said, thinking of Dean's fascination with hunting. Well, fascination was the wrong word, more like obsession. "So big wedding or small wedding?"

"So far we are thinking big. There are too many people that would be offended if they weren't invited." Most of them society types that would be looking for the event of the year. But those society types were the ones Melissa needed in her court. 

"Well, a big society wedding...in a month...that's quite an undertaking." Jess said with a laugh. "Have your dress picked out? I picked mine out when I was ten, have the clipping and everything in case we can't find it when the day comes."

"I have my mother's dress, which was actually my grand mother's dress." She said with a smile. "It's in the cleaners now, we were going to use the ballroom at the estate for the reception, have the justice of the peace arranged and we can use the rose garden for the ceremony."

"Uh...wow." Jess said and blinked. "All in a day and a half. Wow. When I get married, I'm definitely hiring you to plan it." She said with an easy smile, but the fact that it was so planned out sent shivers down Jess's spine. She'd just met Dean two weeks ago after all.

"After running my father's business for two years, a wedding is a piece of cake. So what are you studying in college?"

"Pre med." Jess said and laughed. "I know, who would think it, with all that hi tech stuff, but you can get to places where they don't have it. So I shouldn't have any problem there. Sam's pre law, so I guess he can handle all my malpractice stuff when I blow up the Xray machine." She joked.

Melissa laughed. A waste of talent really. All this talk of medicine and law. They were wizards, they should bend and mold and twist things into their own likeness, not buy into the banality of the mundane world. 

Jess held her smile, though she felt like she was being laughed at rather than with. "So now that Dean's bought your dad's business, what are your plans?" She asked. "The estate has been without a woman since their moms moved out, it pretty much runs itself."

"I haven't decided that yet." She said. "Been enjoying the two week vacation so far. I'm sure I will come up with something. I've never been one to just let life happen around me."

"Yeah, I can see that." Jess said. The waiter brought their food and Jess thanked him. "But I'm glad we could get together, after that whole mess last night."

"I don't know what to do with those two. I suppose we could lock them in a utility closet until they sort it out for themselves but then we have to face the unified front afterwards."

"Not to mention put up with the pity party for their bruises." Jess said with a roll of her eyes. But she thought a nice united Winchester front would be good. Especially now.

"Well... that option may be out but we have to get them back together somehow or neither of us is going to get any sleep anytime soon. " Dean might pretend to be angry about it all but he was as hurt as the other brother. It was the perfect wedge. but she had to drive another in place. "So why don't you tell me all about Sam and we can maybe figure out how to go about it."

Jess was wary of that idea. Just something about Melissa was ringing false. But she told her about Sam, not actual Sam that Dean knew, but the one that was perceived by everyone else. "Those two are like two sides of the same coin, you know? Sure, we're great additions to their lives, but without each other, I think they'd be lost. They're the only part of the Winchester family that's still around."

"Have they considered looking to see if there might be any more around? Cousins, that sort of thing. They seem pretty close to Harry. Might make them feel a little less alone in the world. " Lost was exactly where she wanted Dean, and any other family that showed up along the way would stay away if they knew what was good for them.

"I think they tried, and got dead ends from that." Jess said. "Which is why I am so glad they have each other." Oh she didn't like this woman.

Melissa nodded. "It's only natural that over time they ... drift apart. I mean, they aren't children any longer. Not that I expect them not to be close or anything but well... it seemed a little unhealthy at times from what Dean was saying, maybe with us getting married and Sam at college they can settle into a more normal relationship."

Jess had to laugh. "Normal? They're Winchesters. And Morningways. Normal so doesn't fit into those worlds at all." She said. "We don't have siblings, we couldn't really understand." Though Sam had explained it to her, and she'd been around long enough to see for herself. Even with Justin there, and Harry, Dean was Sam's caregiver, much like he'd been until their father died. To Sam, Dean was father, brother, best friend, tormentor and protector all rolled into one Dean sized package. That's why this was tearing him up inside, and it was all this woman's fault. Probably deliberately too.

"Maybe normal should. Might be best for both of them. Help get rid of some of that pain. "

TMATMATMA

Sam didn't want to go into the office to see his brother. He didn't want to go and have a fight with a man who wasn't truly in control of his own actions, but he knew that not going in there and pretending that he didn't know would look suspicious later on.

He took a deep breath and entered Dean's office. "I see you are getting used to the chair after all." He tried to smile.

"Yeah, kinda." Dean said with a small grin as he signed paperwork and gave it to the courier to take to different departments. "Usually only when I need to use a pen." He admitted as he got up and leaned against the desk, facing Sam. "Look, I know you're mad."

"Hurt more than anything else." Sam said honestly. It had been like being slapped in the face. He had gone from being important in his brother's life to just being another guy. Even though that was her doing, part of that was Dean too. And it hurt like hell.

"It happened fast." Dean said. "Really, really fast. Nothing else I can say, I guess. I'm sorry that I didn't discuss this with you before, but, since you're not the one getting married, I kinda assumed the decision was up to me." 

"It's not about discussing, or whether or not it's your decision. It's that... I thought we were close, you know... you didn't even say you were in love when we talked last. So yeah, it felt like I got sucker punched last night."

"Dude, we talked a week and a half ago. And I didn't know I was. You really can't use that against me. You didn't ask either." Dean said. "So can you just let it go? I mean, I need a best man and everything you know."

"Dude, you had just mentioned her, why would I ask if you were in love already?" Sam asked. The last thing he wanted to do was stand at Dean's side while he married the woman. Not this woman, not under these circumstances. "But, Yeah... I will ... be your best man...if you want me to... but Dean... where's the fire?" He couldn't understand how the spell managed to close Dean's mind to how incredibly foolish it all sounded... as well as any concern for Sams feelings. There was no remorse for hurting him, just a demand to forget it and move on. If he hadn't been so sure there was a spell involved, he would have decked him.

"Because..." Dean said and reached behind him to shuffle some papers that were strewn across his desk. "I don't know." He said with a shrug. "Look how little time Mom and Dad had. I just don't want to waste time with silly things. Because it all goes so freaking fast, next thing you know, she's dead and you're trying to hold it together."

"That's not gonna happen." Sam said. "Okay... that was another life. What ever it was that caused it... we aren't part of it any more. All of that died when Dad abandoned us. So... just... enjoy life okay... don't expect it to all go up in flames."

"Dude, what do you mean we're not a part of it?" Dean asked. "I know I am. I'm hunting the damn thing. And you've come with me on some occasions. How can you stand there and say it was another life like I'm supposed to just forget about it?" He had seen his mother on the ceiling. He had seen her burst into flames. It was his four year old arms that his father had shoved his baby brother into and it was him his father had told to run with the baby outside to supposed safety.

It was that sight that he often saw right before he fell asleep at night.

"Because that's exactly what I am trying to do. I don't want to live like that again. You hunt. It's not the same. There is no way that it's the same. We have homes, we have lives, we... we have identities that stay the same for more than a week at a time. I remember having to be careful to remember what name he gave the doctor when I had the chicken pox. I was 5 and remembering aliases. Dad was running from the pain and running to his own death. We were just something he got stuck with along the way. I barely remember the man, Dean, and what I do remember is his back as he was leaving or the view of the back of his head from the back seat. The only reason I remember his face at all is the pictures Justin had of him and mom. We're nothing like him. Our lives are not going to turn out like his."

"Well, I remember a lot more than that." Dean said with a shake of his head. "Sure, I remember the motels, and the rental houses, and the millions of schools, and trillions of aliases. I remember learning to stitch up his arm. I remember the weapon training. And if he hadn't gotten killed, he would have come back for us. I know that. So that creature's on my list too. I also remember the people he helped. And the people he saved, and the evil sons of bitches he sent screaming back to hell. And I remember his face whenever Mom was mentioned. And I remember his wedding band and how he would twist it when he thought no one was looking. I don't want that to be me. I don't want to live life with a big fat what if? What if Dad got to Mom faster? What if I take a step back, and she takes a step away? I've got a great girl, and I'm not going to let fate or anything get in the way of that. If that makes me...whatever it is you think I am...then I guess that's what I am."

"Why is it you think that it's the girl or the engagement that had me upset last night, Dean?" Sam asked quietly. "It wasn't that at all. Don't get me wrong, I love Jessica. One day she is going to be my wife. But YOU are my family. YOU are all I have left and ... I guess I felt shut out that you didn't tell me something THIS major in your life. Something so huge as falling in love and... you didn't tell me."

"Dude, it happened fast. Like I got hit over the head or something." Dean said. "The company buys out her father's business, next thing I know I'm screwing her. Okay, so that's actually pretty much par for the course for me." He admitted with a chuckle. "Next thing I know I'm standing up other women, then a proposal comes out of my mouth. It's great, I feel great. But dude, it's a 180 from my normal behavior. Which meant you and Harry would probably have tried to lock me up or something. Because we all hate change. With a capital 'h'. So...I guess...I just didn't know how to put it until I'd already put it to her."

"I'm glad you're happy, Dean." He said, wishing it were real. His brother deserved to find love and happiness. But not like this. Not when it controlled him. A love spell he could forgive, but this was something more insidious. "Just... don't ditch me, okay?" It sounded childish coming out of his mouth, but it really was what he had been afraid of before the spell became obvious. Sam didn't believe that their father would have come for them. He might have come to see them, but he wouldn't have come to take them with him again. The thought of losing Dean so quickly, with about as much warning- well it still ached inside, becuase there was a chance they couldn't undo what was done. 

"Dude, I'm not ditching you." Dean said. "I'm just getting married. Quick, too, before she changes her mind and ditches me, so yeah, it's going to be forefront in my mind and all. That's how things work."

"Dude... if you're afraid she is gonna change her mind... that doesn't sound good. Either she loves you as much as you love her and you need to knock off the insecurity before she figures it out... or ... well... what makes you think she might change her mind?"

"Because I'm Dean." Dean said with a laugh. "And things never work out for me, come on, you know that. Something always messes it up, usually of my own creation."

"If something goes wrong... it won't be your fault." Sam said. It will be mine, he thought. Wishing that this were real, that Dean were really in love and about to live happily ever after. "So don't go creating self fulfilling prophesies. Come on... I'm starving. Lets get out of here for a while."

"Okay." Dean said. "Jess took Melissa out for lunch. I thought that was nice." He said, and he did. "So where should we go? I'm feeling like a big thick burger myself."

"Jess is excited about there being another girl in the family." Sam said with a grin. "And oh yeah, burgers sound good. Jess and I know we're gonna get married one day. There just hasn't been any official asking or ring purchasing. Although I caught a glimpse of a bridal magazine once." 

"Dude, she's a girl. That's what they do." Dean said with a laugh. "Caught one of the secretaries with one, so asked if the boyfriend popped the question. She doesn't even HAVE a boyfriend. What's that say?"

"Chicks are weird." Sam said shaking his head. "So do you have any say in the upcoming wedding or are you one of those grooms that's just along for the ride?" 

"Please. Can you see me picking out china patterns or reception menu? She already tried that. Apparently I got a completely catatonic look on my face, she gave up." Dean said with a laugh.

"She's on it that fast... I'm impressed. " Scared was more like it. "Come on... burgers are waiting."

Dean chuckled and grabbed his keys, telling his secretary on the way out that he was leaving the building. "I feel like I'm reporting to a parole officer when I talk to her." He said with a chuckle. "Yeah, Melissa's probably one of those that had their wedding planned out from the time they were five." 

Sam shook his head. thinking all she had been doing was waiting for some guy to turn into the perfect Ken doll. "I can imagine. So how does it feel having the life you never thought you would have? Even when we were growing up you didn't really expect to step up to the plate completely with the company. Much less settle down and get married."

"It's a little mind blowing." Dean said with a laugh. "Wondering what the hell happened between the age of eleven and now, but I don't know. I'm dealing. I got other people to freak out over it for me after all. Delegation, always a good thing."

"You're doing well though. This would all blow Dad's mind I think. " Something told him their old man would be less than approving of his own choices but the fact that Dean was still hunting would have pleased the hell out of him.

"Never would have happened if Dad were alive." Dean said honestly. "I mean, I would have probably barely finished school and hit the road with him. Might not have been a bad thing, I mean, even now, sometimes I just want to hop into the Impala and chase down something evil."

"Every once in a while, it needs to be done." Sam said with a smile as they arrived at said Impala. "It's just nice that it's a choice."

Dean laughed. "Yeah, and sometimes, after dealing with all those guys, it's even a vacation." He said as they got in and he drove toward a burger place in town.

"So any luck tracking down what Dad was hunting when he went down?" Sam wasn't as big on the whole revenge thing. As far as he was concerned, revenge had cost him his father.

"Not yet." Dean said. "I've got his journal, and I know what he was hunting, and where. But when I went there, whatever was there had cleared out. It's been a while after all. But I know what I'm looking for. The thing that killed Mom, that's harder. Even Dad didn't know exactly what he was looking for. Or if he did, he didn't write it down." 

Sam nodded. "Maybe this summer, I'll go with you once or twice. Jess would kill me if I made a long term habit out of it. She flipped when I dealt with a haunted house out there in Palo Alto, but I think that was really cause I wouldn't let her go along more than anything else." 

"That's because your girlfriend is convinced that there's nothing a little magic won't cure if it came to it." Dean said with a laugh. He'd had that argument with Jessica before. "And that there's nothing I can do that she can't. Except, you know, shoot straight."

"Or fight. I swear she is the poster child for fights like a girl. " Sam said. He knew girls that could take on his brother and hold their own, granted they usually had trained the same way he had. But it just wasn't a given that a girl would... well... fight like a girl. Jessica however, was all girl.

"Oh yeah, forgot about that one." Dean said with a laugh. "I was going to let that one go, but you're right. She fights and throws like a complete girl."

Sam grinned. "That's okay... I dont mind... seeing as how she's you know... a complete girl and all."

"Nothing wrong with complete girl." Dean said, laughing. "We're straight men after all, with sex drives. We like complete girls. Definitely turns our heads."

"You know...I don't think any one other than Jess has really turned my head since I was 16." 

"Yeah, well, you were whipped from the age of nine." Dean said with a laugh. "The really pathetic thing, your head didn't get turned by anyone else since you were 16, and you didn't get the balls to ask her out for what, two or three years later?"

"It's not like I didn't date other people before then. And hey, I might not have jumped in with both feet in a matter of days but we are living together, you know." 

"Yeah, I know." Dean said with a laugh as they pulled up in front of the burger place and went in to order their instant heart attacks. "But that's okay. Because sometimes you just...know."

"I'm surprised you didn't go with the moving in together first route. " Sam said with a smile. "Guess I just always saw you as the terminal bachelor." He laughed a little, wishing with all his heart that this was the real thing and not some spell. "But yeah, sometimes its just... there."

"Don't worry, so did I." Dean said with a laugh as they grabbed their burgers then a table. "But things change, I guess." 

"Sometimes they do... other things... like the craving for fast food... nothing can change." Sam said with a laugh. He remembered how hard Justin had tried to turn Dean into a member of high society. And how he had failed.

"Okay, true. I still can't even look at half the crap Justin tried to get me to eat at various dinners." Dean said with a shudder. Foods he couldn't pronounce and didn't look cooked in the first place. Or belonged on the bottom of his shoe as he stepped on them rather than his fork.

"It wasn't all that bad." Sam said with a laugh. "Some of it is really good. Granted anything slimy is bad... but you like gumbo so I don't get that one... all that stewed okra in there. " Sam shuddered.

"Oh please. You can't get past okra but you'll eat raw fish?" Dean teased. He liked gumbo. Because he remembered this one trip to New Orleans with their father, where they'd eaten in a cheap cafe that served gumbo and nothing else. It was just a recon trip for their dad, so it was nearly like a family vacation.

"Sushimi isn't slimy. I'm serious okra reminds me of demon goo, I swear." He laughed. "And not all sushi involves fish." He took a long drink of his soda. "But yeah, burgers are still comfort food." Especially good ones. Not the ones that came out of McDonald's, but a real hamburger that oozed juice when you bit into it. Now that was food. And no matter how well Sam fit into society, he still loved burgers.

"And a complete escape from the people in Justin's world." Dean said with a laugh. "Could you see any one else on the board in this place? Donald included, unless he was tracking me down? But speaking of Japan, I had to go there. Week of hell, not including the flights. Then I went on a hunt after. Came back, called Melissa, invited her over for some barbeque, and you know what she brought? Beer."

"Beer?" Sam asked. "Well that explains it." He teased. "I knew there had to be something exceptional about the girl to toss you head over heels before you knew what hit you. I still reserve the right to worry though."

"Guess I can't stop you either, though there's nothing to worry about." Dean said with a chuckle. "I'm fine, really. And this is a good thing."

TMATMATMA

"So how did the lunch go?" Harry asked Jessica as she entered the shop. 

"It was weird." Jess said. "But I lifted the glass she was drinking out of, and a fork. Hope that's enough for you. And she's definitely up to something, she really doesn't like Sam, and I'm not all that sure she likes Dean outside the bed room either."

"It's all going to depend on what kind of protections she has around herself and her work." Harry said as he took the items over to his work table. "She doesn't know either of them... she's after the money, the council seat... or both." 

"And the worst part? If I wasn't on my top secret mission, I might have liked her. She's very convincing at being completely nice and in love with Dean, and cares about it all." Of course, Jessica couldn't think it was real, otherwise she wouldn't be able to do this. Which is completely destroy the relationship.

"If we're wrong and there is no spell... it's okay to like her." Harry said with a smile. "But it just doesn't work with Dean's personality, it's all... too sudden. He's the conservative one emotionally." Which was scary considering how long it took Sam to actually admit he had fallen for Jessica.

"Well, he's gotta be conservative in one part of his life, right?" Jessica said as she pulled up a chair to watch what Harry was doing.

Harry started things bubbling over the bunsen burner. It was going to take a while before they could find much of anything out. "There are only so many ways to go about trapping someone like that. Correct me if I am wrong Bob. There's your basic love potion, but those wear off, not really much more than a jump start. There's the old fashioned sympathetic magic with poppets and some connection to the guy... then there is the hard core stuff. It's like magical reprogramming. She would need a DNA sample, and a lot of power. There would be a focus of some sort, items created by the spell."

"Unfortunately, with Dean's habits, it would not be hard to get a DNA sample. Under her finger nails, bed sheets..." He stopped when Jess blushed at that. "But if I wanted to control someone like that, that's how I'd do it. Which puts it in the realm of the black arts."

"Maybe we should tell Morgan?" Jess suggested, since Harry couldn't afford the connection."

"Morgan will want proof and the Morningway play boy suddenly settling down and behaving... he isn't going to see as proof." Harry said. "This will tell us if there is a ... connection between them. Which if there is... it could either be a spell cast... or she's pregnant." 

"If she knows she's pregnant, it's not his." Jess said. "It hasn't really been long enough. And that is such a low way to trap a guy. He's not acting trapped. Well, I guess she could be pregnant, could she base a spell on that?"

"She could." Bob said. "But she'd have to be farther along."

"It would only show up in this spell if it were connected to Dean. His. Which I don't think he has gotten that careless without a little outside help. " Harry said. Justin and Harry both had pounded Safe Sex into Dean's head from the moment the first hormone had reared up and taken control of the boy.

"Okay." Jess said. "I can't believe Dean got himself into this mess. He so deserves to be strangled when this is all over for not keeping it in his pants."

"If she wanted him badly enough, it wouldn't have taken much more than a hair." Harry said. "Although knowing Dean, he willingly handed over the samples."

"I'm sure your cousin didn't provide everything in nice neat packages, handing them to her and saying here you go, please make me your love slave." Bob said as he watched the bunsen burner, instructing Harry about the heat settings and such.

"No he didn't." Harry said with a frustrated frown, and watched as the fluid changed colors, he held the crystal over it and frowned as it turned a honey amber color. "And there's our connection. It's a spell. A heavy duty spell at that."

"Then you need to break it before she does become pregnant. Preferably before the wedding too." Bob said.

"That would be the plan. which means getting into her lab and finding the focus of the spell. Which could be anything."

Sam entered the office, Dean having gone on to see Melissa. "So there is proof positive she has enthralled him?" He asked. 

"Yup." Jess said. "So we've got to find her lab and things like that. I have her address if that helps?" She said, holding out the slip of paper. She'd gotten it from Dean, in case she couldn't get a hold of Melissa on the phone, she could just stop over. "How's Dean?"

"Happy." Sam said, his tone miserable."Was kind of hoping you wouldn't find anything, to be honest."

"This won't go over well, then." Bob said, shaking his head. "But it's for his own good. If she's after the money, she could get him to change his will, then kill him. Or the bloodline, then his time is marked from the first time she becomes pregnant."

"I'll head over there tomorrow when they are at work. See if I can't find something. Any potions up your incorporeal sleeve that could help a guy out, Bob?"

"Actually, I do. Seeing as you can track any remnants of Dean that Melissa has." Bob said and explained them to Harry, since Bob couldn't exactly whip them up himself. "They should help hone in on where it all is centered at least."

"I should be able to have that ready for you by morning. Why don't you two go back to the estate and get some rest? You look pretty wired, Sam"

"I'm alright... but yeah we probably should go... " He said running his hand through his hair. "I'll swing back by here after I get Jess on the flight home."

"Wait? Flight home? Sam, come on." She said. "Ever occur to you that I'm not a fragile doll and you might need my help?" 

"It occurs to me every day." He said with a smile. "It also occurs to me that we are expected to leave town tomorrow, because someone can't afford to miss that whole cadaver ... lab... thing."

Jess sighed. She really couldn't miss her anatomy lab. As much as she wanted to, and as much as she felt she was needed here more. "Okay, fine. But call me, like, every six hours because I'm going to worry about this."

Sam laughed and pulled her into a hug. "Okay. I will call you often. Call me on the cell when you get twitchy. But as far as Dean knows, I'll be out of town." He said kissing her lightly. "Come one... let's go back to the estate and work on saying goodbye."

"Okay, we'll do that. And I'll try not to get twitchy." Jess said. "Bye Harry, bye Bob."


	6. Chapter 6

She watched him slip into her home. She was amused more than anything. Had he been a true Morningway, she might have been concerned, but he was little more than an orphan really. Morningway blood didn't mean Morningway power. Power born in darkness, and kept slithering there under a benign surface.

No, Samuel, like his brother, was all Winchester. Rough edges, and soft heart. Buying into the ideals of the council. She almost felt sorry for him. The council wasn't as lily white and fair as it wanted the rest of the world to believe, and the boy would lose that innocence that hung around him like morning fog fading in the sun.

She watched on, staring into the hand held mirror, as he searched her home. She was sure she knew what he was looking for, had actually expected it to the Dresden who had come looking for the proof of her deeds. This would work out much more to her liking.

She slid gracefully from her chair, still staring into the mirror, making certain not to lose sight of Sam. Waiting for the perfect moment, waiting for him to walk into her lab.

She moved behind him silently smiling as she came closer. "Looking for something?" She asked, and was rewarded with startled brown eyes turning her way. Her hand came up before he could react and the prepared magic flew from her fingertips, rendering the younger man unconscious.

TMATMATMA

Dean was barely keeping his head in the business meeting. His thoughts were completely consumed by Melissa, though he managed to nod at the right places so far. Though Donald looked about ready to kick him under the table. He looked at his watch, he'd been in freaking meetings all day. He hated this part of the business. But every once in a while it was important to at least pretend to be a proper businessman.

Finally, when it seemed all the department blowhards had talked themselves out, he politely thanked them for coming and for their updates and watched them all file out of the room. As soon as the last one closed the door behind him, Dean laid his forehead against the table. "Christ, they couldn't leave fast enough."

Donald raised a patient eyebrow. "You know, if you don't really want to do this, you can always sell the company to someone who does. You know, your uncle's whole life's work and your family's livelihood. Of course, have no idea how you'll support yourself. No one's really hiring magicians or demon hunters..."

Dean groaned. "I get it, I get it." He said with a shake of his head. "Listen, I'm going to take off, okay?"

"Perhaps that would best. You can always look over the video I made of this meeting tomorrow, when your head is more in the game."

Dean grinned and clapped Donald on the shoulder as he passed. "Now there's an idea. I promise, I'll be a good boy tomorrow." He said with a wink as he walked out and took out his cell phone, calling Melissa.

Melissa had Sam tucked away in a magically enhanced cage, before heading back up the stairs. She frowned at the ringing phone but picked it up anyway. "Hello?"

"Hey." Dean said with a grin. "I'm cutting out of here early before they expect to, I don't know, work or something." He said with a chuckle. "Thought I'd come over."

"I was just about to go run a few errands. Why don't you meet me for lunch?" She gave him the name of the restaurant. "They are also caterers, and I wanted to sample a few things for the reception."

"You know, this wedding stuff reminds me way too much of work. We could always just run off and elope. Then the only thing we have to worry about is if there's enough gas in the car." Dean suggested. 

Normally Melissa would never agree to any such thing, but once Dean learned his brother was missing it could distract him. Not to mention people were obviously on to her. She needed to move quickly. "Are you serious?" She asked.

"Sure." Dean said. "We'll grab Sam as a witness and find a judge or something. He left for Californiathis morning with Jessica, I can catch them on their layover." 

"Why don't we fly out to Vegas? Have them redirect their flight to join us." She would have to come up with something to make him forget about Sam being there long enough to get married.

"Let me get a hold of Sam and see what we can figure out. He's barely forgiven me for springing the engagement on him like this, he'll never forgive me if I get married without him." He said with a laugh, though it was true. 

"Okay." She said, figuring Neither Jess nor Sam would have a cell phone giving thier magical nature. It would hard for Dean to get a hold of him in the best of circumstances. "But get them back here asap. I like this eloping thing. And your brother would forgive you if he loves you."

"Forgive me, maybe. Hold a grudge, definitely." He said as he hung up with her. Called the airport where the layover was and threw his weight around to get either Sam or Jess on the phone, whichever would talk to him.

"Dean... is everything alright?" Jess asked, afraid that if he was calling her now that Sam was hurt or in trouble. "Is Sam okay?"

Now Dean was confused. "Sam? Sam's supposed to be with you." Dean said with a furrowed brow. "What do you mean is he all right? Jessica, what's going on?"

"You're gonna be pissed, but I need you to promise me you are going to hear me out no matter what your emotional impulse says to do. Can you do that? Can you promise?"

"What?" Dean said. "I don't like where this is going. Okay, you know I'm going to be pissed, which means Sam knew that and he did whatever he did anyway. Fine, fine. Well, I can't find him. So might as well tell me. Right now." 

Jessica spilled everything. Sam could be in danger and Dean needed to know everything. About how worried Sam and Harry were, about the spell, about Sam's plan to check things out just to be sure. "Dean, we only did this because we love you. "

"Jess, hold on." Dean said as he locked himself in an empty conference room and put thephone down on the table. Then he trashed the room before picking up the phone again. "Okay, so let me get this straight. I'm getting married, you guys decide that it's all a big joke on old Deano and decide to, I don't know, break into the love of my life's house. Because you love me."

"It's not a joke Dean... it's very serious. we're talking Warden intervention type serious." She said not wanting to say too much in a crowded air port. "The love of your life that is bound to you by ... you know... or pregnant.. but since you have only known her two weeks... it's not likely she would be pregnant enough for the... results to turn out like they did. I know you don't want to see it right now, but there is something seriously wrong with this situation."

"Obviously. Because I'm happy and doing something somewhat normal, that means obviously that black magic is involved. That's the obvious answer." Dean said. "Fine. I'll grab Harry, since I know he's in on this too, we'll break into my fiancee's house, and there won't be a Sam there. This is all ridiculous."

"Don't take Harry... if he is anywhere near that... stuff... you know what will happen... and right now I don't think you are ... together enough to defend him over her."

"Whatever Jessica." Dean said. He was pissed off. "Look, miss your flight, stay there. And I'll find Sam. Once he's out of the hospital I'm going to put him in, he'll call you." 

"Dean... don't do anything you're gonna regret later." Jessica said. "I'm coming back there." Screw her anatomy lab. if they didn't get this spell taken care of, things were going to be bad between the brothers and Sam would need her.

"I really don't need anymore people ganging up on me right now." He said. "Do what you want. It'll all be over by the time you get here anyway." He hung up and called Melissa. "Hey, baby. So I got the jet for Vegas, I couldn't get a hold of Sam or Jess, but I left a message. When their flight pulls in, they'll know to come to Vegas. I just hope he comes. I gotta tie some things up here, go get the jet ready for me?"

"I suppose I can do that." She said. "I'm sure they will catch up to us, and if not, we can always do something for our anniversary with them. I will meet you there."

"Sounds good. Love you." Dean said as he hung up and took a deep breath. He could not believe he was about to do this. But he changed into casual clothes and his boots and headed over to Melissa's. Parking a block away and cutting through backyards before carefully taking the window out of her basement and slipping inside, replacing it. Who did Sam think he was, exactly? Pulling this. Of course Melissa would have a secret magical lab place. Same reason Harry did. And even their uncle had had one. Sam and Jess would probably have one after college.

But he made his way upstairs, avoiding the servants and searched for the secret room. An hour later, he found it. Off the study. And what he saw was not what he expected.

"Dammit." He said, and felt everything in his chest drop to his feet as looked at his caged brother. Which he found out he couldn't open. So he circled the room until he found the vault, and cracked it open. He'd practiced on Uncle Justin's vaults as a teenager, he knew his way around lock systems. And found the wand, and the spell on a scrap of paper.

He closed everything up and sat down, looking at his brother. Dammit.

Sam stirred several minutes later, groaning at the pain in his head. "Well this isn't how I had things planned." He muttered, not seeing his brother in the room.

"Yeah, well, me either." Dean said from the high stool he was sitting on. "But you know what they say about best laid plans. But hey, yours worked for the most part, right? I'm here, I know she did something very very wrong to me. Course, you being in a cage I can't get you out of isn't good. Want some M&Ms?" He was waiting for Melissa. Sooner or later she'd figure something was wrong. She wasn't stupid. 

Sam shook his head. "I'm sorry. I had honestly hoped I was wrong.look, you need to get out of here and go get Harry before she comes back. I can't cast any spells in here."

"I can't bring Harry in here, you know that." Dean said. "Morgan will lop his head off before he even gets out of here. Nah, I got it. Just do me a favor, and go back to sleep. Or pretend you're sleeping or whatever. Don't want her thinking we were talking or anything. Gotta keep some of the element of surprise."

"You have to be careful, we don't know how much hold she actually has over you with this spell." Sam said worriedly. But Dean was right, she couldn't know what was going on.

"I know. I will be." Dean said as he sat on the stool, and waited for Melissa. Why did people always think they could mess with his family? It was beginning to piss him off, truthfully.

She waited for an hour at the plane then called the office, where she was told that he had left long ago. Her dark eyes narrowed as she called for her driver to come pick her up.

She didn't see Deans car out front, and sighed a little in relief. Maybe she was over reacting. Maybe it was just traffic, or he was planning a surprise. 

Still it nagged at her. Something was wrong.

She entered her lab and frowned. "Dean..."

"Were you looking for me? Or checking to make sure Sam was out of the way before you went looking for me?" Dean asked in a flat tone. "You know, I can handle people messing with me. But when they go after my little brother..."

"He came here, uninvited, or I would have left him be." She said walking over to Dean, her hand gently caressing his face. "It doesn't have to get ugly tonight. That's all up to you."

"Fine." Dean said. "Let him go. And it doesn't have to get ugly at all."

"Oh I will, once I sort out a way to make sure he forgets all about this. Now, let's go upstairs and let him sleep this off for now. " 

"No. Let him go." Dean said, firmly. "And what exactly would you have to make sure he forgot? The fact that you used black magic on me? Oops. I might have to be made to forget too now, huh?"

"Or I could leave him where he is indefinitely and make you forget about finding him here. Don't get too pushy, Dean. "

"What? You think Sam's the only one that figured it out? You don't have enough power to fix that, sweetheart. Don't dig your hole any deeper than it already is." Dean said, keeping a grip on his temper. The spell had brought out feelings of love and lust in him. All well and good, except for Love and Lust's first cousin also usually came along for the ride. Rage.

"Figuring it out and proving it are two different things. If they had proof Sam wouldnt be here now, would he?" She started to turn away from him and walk toward Sam.

Dean got off the stool and got between his fiancee and his brother. "Proof? I've got the proof." He said. "Found this place almost right away. Found other stuff too...and already squirreled them away. For a rainy day and all. Now let my brother go. Now."  
"You have them squirreled away? You wouldn't leave your brother here alone to go squirrel something away, Dean." She told him. "Go sit down." The last was said in a commanding tone that seemed to reach into the pit of his stomach and twist, with the power focused against his will.

"I don't think so." Dean said, though he groaned. As if someone had just sucker punched him in the gut. "Melissa, stop this."

"Once I am done here, we are getting on that plane and we are going to Vegas to be married." She said reaching up to touch his face once more. "You know you still love me, no matter how angry you are, you still love me... more than you love yourself. " She knew he was going to fight her as long as Sam was an issue. "Sleep, baby. It'll all be better when you wake up." She said and the power slipped from her finger tips.

Dean tried to fight that. And succeeded for exactly four seconds, before he dropped like a stone, unconscious, or sleeping, either way, completely out, in the space on the floor between Sam and Melissa. He didn't notice it when Melissa pulled roughly on him to get him out of the way of what she had to do.

"Dean!" Sam said, unable to stay silent any longer. "What did you do to him?"

"Dean isn't the one you need to be worried about right now. Don't worry, I'll take care of him." She said as she set up the circle around Sam and the cage he was in.

Melissa made the circle carefully, with the precision of an artist who loves her medium, and went to her table of materials to gather the potions and concoctions needed. "It'll be all right, Sam. At least for Dean. Maybe I'll let him name his first son after the brother that disappeared." She said as she mixed and stirred and crushed. "He'll get over you, he'll have me."

She moved away from the table to begin spreading the first part out, not seeing Dean quietly stand up behind her. He'd undergone rigorous training under Justin to keep him out of trouble. He could move quieter than most special forces soldiers, and he knew that.

He'd also sat in on many of the lessons Sam had under Bob, by Sam's request. And some of that knowledge had made it into his head as he carefully, quietly switched a few of the ingredients, holding a finger up to his lips to Sam, shhh, before he laid back down, right before Melissa returned to the table for the last ingredients.

"You don't know my brother." Sam said. "He isn't over our parents death yet, you think my disappearance is going to just go away because of a little black magic." Sam didn't know what spell Melissa had set up and he didn't know how Dean's alterations would affect it. "Others know... it's not so simple to cover up."

"Once the ceremony is complete and your brother is wearing the wedding band I made for us, none of that will matter anymore. Just an unpleasant memory and one more death to add to the tally against Dresden."

She stood back and began to cant the spell, old fashioned ritual magic mixed with the power of a true magus. She cast the spell to unlock the cage just as the demon appeared before them. "Go ahead and run Sam... they like a good chase."

"Like hell bitch." Dean said, no longer faking being unconscious as he stood up and moved between the demon and Sam. "Maybe you're the one that should run. Sammy, you okay?" He'd altered it so it wouldn't be a blood hound for Sam. In the time he had alotted, all he could do was turn off its tracking sense. Which meant now everyone was fair game.

"Dean! NO!" Sam yelled out as the demon batted his brother out of the way and into the far wall. He stepped out of the cage ducking the swing of the demon to run to his brother's side.

"Oh that was dumb." Dean said with a groan as he slowly got up. "I'm okay, Sam. But you need to get out of here. This is my job, remember? I got this. Get out of here."

"Not with out you." Sam said firmly, and pulled the slightly older man out of the way of the next swing.

"Too bad Dean... I was actually looking forward to the next few years with you." Melissa said as she exited the room and locked the door behind her.

"Sam, get to her worktable, see what you can use. I'm gonna get that door open." Dean said. Even if he had to pry it open with his bare hands, he and Melissa weren't done yet. He took out his cell phone. "Harry! I'm at Melissa's. The study, secret room." He said as he ducked and moved. "She sicced a demon on us."

"Get the hell out of there, and over here. It won't be able to get past my shields." Harry said, but wondered how the hell to get rid of the demon before it terrorized the city. "We'll figure out how to get rid of it from here."

"Screw that." Dean said. "And let this thing out into the city? Are you nuts?" There was a yell of pain as Dean was batted across the small room, the cell phone going the other way. "Dammit." Dean said, wiping blood off his face.

"Dean... get inside the circle." Sam said as he neared the completion of a protective circle on the floor. He figured he could fight the thing magically but not with his brother being batted around like a rag doll. 

"Sam, you keep your ass inside that circle." Dean ordered as he went through drawers and cabinets, finding anything silver or iron. It was a haphazard guess, but one of them might work. He'd switched the ingredients to give Sam time to get to safety, knowing the demon would be confused as to its target at first. Now he just had to kill the damn thing.

"Dean no!" Sam called out as the demon went for his brother again. He raised his hand and a bright light shown from it, striking the demon and sending it backwards away from his brother.

Dean found an iron poker and started swinging it at the demon. He hit the demon, but it didn't do any good. More like slamming it against a concrete wall, really, he felt that all the way up to his shoulders. "Figure something out magically Sam, but I ain't taking the chance of this thing getting out." He said as he picked himself up off the floor again. His ears were ringing and one shoulder was useless as he searched for silver.

"Damn it Dean, get in here!" Sam yelled, and threw another bolt at the demon. He knelt down, some how knowing his brother wasn't going to listen to a word he had to say. He didn't leave the protective circle but drew another one outside its protective barriers, not quite finishing it, then smudged the protective one and got out. "Drive it over this way."

Easier said than done, but eventually the demon was driven into the circle and Dean sat down on the ground. "Okay, enough fun for today?" He asked his brother. "Let's just destroy this thing. I got one more score to settle."

"Gonna have to look up how to banish it." Sam said as he went to his brother to check him over. "Where are you hurt?" They could deal with Melissa later. if she got away, Sam would make sure the Wardens knew to go after her.

"Dude, I'm fine." Dean said, shrugging off the examination. "Okay, silver didn't work, iron didn't work. Next stop is rock salt. After that, I'm fine just plugging it full of bullets until I run out. I'll deal with Melissa. It's my problem after all." He said as he brought her wand out from inside his coat and worked at it (difficult with only one really useful arm) until it snapped.

"Dude, you are not fine. Are you sure you should go after her? You don't know what she could do with that spell in effect. " He touched Dean's shoulder. "Is it out of socket?"

"Dude, I'm fine." Dean said, shaking his head. "How do we kill this thing?" Melissa WAS his problem. He had to settle it. If Morgan found her the same time as he did, that was fine too. But he had to face this. Shoulder out of socket? Oh yeah. He'd reduce it once he was out of here. He'd done it before, hurt like hell, and it was definitely a tequila night, but he'd done it before.

"You don't kill real demons. you banish them... no one has enough power on their own to kill something straight from hell. " Sam got up and went over to the book shelves, or rather what was left of the shelves and started going through the books.

"Dean... Dean!" Came the small voice over the telephone that had skittered across the floor. 

"Whatever, Sam." Dean said. It was all semantics to him. He wanted it gone from this world, however it happened as he picked up the phone. "Sorry, Harry. Got a little busy there for a minute. It's okay now. Thing's trapped. Now we just have to figure out how to get it the hell out of here."

"Where's the witch?" Harry asked, worried that Melissa would be coming back to finish what the demon didn't.

"I got an idea on that." Dean said as he went back to work on the lock. "I'll let you know if I'm right. Don't start, she's my problem. I'm the one that brought this on. After all, I wasn't under any spell when I slept with her."

"That you know of." Harry and Sam said in unison. "How is that door situation? Need me to come over there and let you out? I'd already be there but I don't have the address, Sam has it with him."

"Once and for all, the only spell I was under that night was the fact that I'm male and she's hot." Dean said with a laugh. "Almost got it." He said as the latch finally gave way. "Okay, Sam, what do you got on Fugly over there?"

"I think I have found the banishing spell." He said as he carefully translated the text in his head, not wanting to do so aloud. He reached over and took the phone from Dean to clarify pronunciation of something with Harry, then handed it back.

He gave a worried look to his brother then stepped before the circle and began the incantation.

At first it didn't look like it was going to work, the demon just grew angrier and nastier. Before it...disappeared. Dean nodded. "Cool." He said. "Go to Harry's. And wait for Jessica, she's flying back. All worried about you and all. I'll go deal with Melissa. If you want, you can sic Morgan on me, and I'll lead him right to her."

"Hell no." Sam said. "Your arm's out of socket and god only knows what else. Not to mention she has you enthralled."

"Not so much that I'd lay down and let her kill my pain in the ass little brother." Dean said with a chuckle, though his smile was tight. Pain from all sources. His head, his back, his side. his arm, his knee, his ankle, his heart. Definitely a tequila night. "Fine. Just...just stay back, okay? I have to handle this."

"Yeah well without me there ... who knows what she could do to your will power? Or what she has planned just in case you survived. Let's get that arm taken care of first."

"You're obsessed with my shoulder." Dean said with a shake of his head as they exited the lab. Dean found a nice corner and slammed his shoulder into it, it reducing with a very audible crack and a not very pleasant noise from Dean. He took a deep breath and exhaled after it. "Shoulder's fine. I'm parked around the corner. Let's go."

Sam shook his head. "Once we're done, you going to a doctor." Sam said as he followed his brother. "And we'll figure out a way to break that spell."

"And tell the doctor what? That I dislocated my shoulder because my crazy fiancee let loose a demon then locked me in her secret magic lab with it and my kid brother?" Dean said with a laugh. He left breaking the spell alone. He had some ideas on that already. "She's at the airport, I bet. Catching the first flight out of town."

"Maybe we should let her go and let the the wardens handle it." Sam suggested. He didn't want Dean anywhere near that baracuda.

"Dude, I'm fine. Besides, you're coming along to make sure I continue to be fine, remember?" Dean said as they got into the Impala and headed toward the airport. "Besides, Jess should be landing soon anyway, she turned around and came back, remember? So you call Harry or Morgan or hell, the Merlin while we have a chat." He said as he parked the Impala in the parking lot. 

Sam frowned. "And how am I supposed to do that?" He asked. "Leave you alone with her on an airplane while I go run down an old fashioned pay phone?"

"Pretty much." Dean said as he called the pilot. "Listen, is Melissa there? Good. Okay, I'm on my way, no don't tell her. She's not expecting me. No, leave her there. And no matter what, don't take off. Even if I tell you to later. Yeah, I know I'm strange. The plane stays on the ground. Invent some mechanical malfunction or something, got it? Thanks." He hung up and looked at Sam. "Taken care of."

"Still don't like you going in there alone." Sam grumbled.

Harry had set things in motion to contact Morgan. He couldn't be anywhere near the situation personally but he could direct Morgan. Now he had to wait impatiently.

Dean strolled through the airport, ignoring the double takes at his bruised face, and walked onto his jet. And sat down next to Melissa. "Miss me?" He said, flatly.

"Glad to see you survived." She said as she reached out to take his hand. "Where's your brother?" She asked, considering her options at this point. It wasn't impossible to salvage at the moment.

He jerked his hand away from hers. "He's alive." He said. "Course, locking me in a room with a demon, that wasn't very nice you know."

"You didn't give me much choice." She told him. "Dean... " she said turning to face him. "This isn't over... it's far from over. Do you really want to live the rest of your life without me?" She asked.

He knew the answer to that. The problem was the place it was coming from. He couldn't trust it. He didn't know if it was him, or what she did. "Is it really fair to enchant someone into marriage because you want access to his bloodline? What kind of life is that?" And it hurt, tearing his heart into shreds that everything he felt was a spell, and everything he thought she felt was faked for the effect.

"Life has nothing to do with fair, you of all people know that." She said, reaching up to touch his face. "You were happy before the illusion was broken. Wonderfully happy. You can have that again. I promise."

"Oh yeah, by screwing with me even more. Melissa, you were going to kill my brother!" Dean said. "And frame my cousin for it! You are so screwed up I don't even know where to start!"

"And how much does that matter in the grand scheme of things? You have a chance at happiness... or an enemy that you love more than you love yourself. It really is your choice Dean. Right here, right now... make your choice... just remember the wrong one is going to cost you." 

"Either way it costs me!" Dean said, getting up and pacing, even through the pain in his knee. "Dammit, Melissa. You used black magic! I'm not even sure you even like me. How happy can I be being with a woman who's either after my money or a shot at a council seat, and I know that? What's the other option? Make me forget? And never see the rest of my family again? You are in so deep, I don't know that you can get out. You know what they do to black magic practictioners!" And dammit, he cared. The thought of a death sentence for Melissa was ripping him up inside.

"The other option is let me go for now... tell them that the spell was broken. I'll come back... another face... simple enough glamor... " She stood, going to his side. "If I didn't like you, do you think I would be giving you this option when I could so easily just take you? Or eliminate the evidence?"

Dean thought, and chewed his bottom lip. "Leave." He said. "You have to go. You know Sam and Harry went to the wardens. Get a plane ticket anywhere in the world, but you have to go."

Melissa pulled the chain from around her neck, the rings forged from her spell hung there and she undid the chain. She slid the smaller one on her own finger, and placed the other on his hand, white gold and matching hers exactly. "I will be back." She said as she rose up to kiss him.

"Doubt it." He said. It would certainly be safer for her if she didn't. "Now go. I'll distract who I need to. Just...go."

Melissa turned to run toward the back of the plane and the exit, coming to an abrupt halt as Morgan appeared before her. She back pedaled quickly, bringing up a protective spell as Morgan's sword arched downward.

"Morgan! No!" Dean said and took off toward the back of the plane. "Back off! This isn't your problem." He'd lie if he had to.

Morgan ignored Dean, knowing he was under the influence of the witch and not in his right mind. He continued to attack, knowing eventually he would break down her shield, but he didn't expect to be sent flying backwards from her attack.

"Morgan, stop!" Dean said as the magic battle commenced. He'd never actually seen one, it was a sight to behold, that was for sure. Melissa was holding her own, but for how long? He couldn't get in the middle of it, though he tried. Morgan was blocking that, preventing him from being anything more than a bystander.

And of course he had no weapons on the plane, damn customs and homeland security and all that bullshit.

Morgan was dividing his power, keeping a bubble around the battle, preventing Dean from interfering or Sam from charging in and becoming a target. Still he was able to fight the witch, although he would later grudgingly admit she was a formidable opponent.

Melissa was fighting for her life and she knew it. It was a battle she hadn't come prepared for, hadn't thought likely to have to face just yet. It weakened her, left her vulnerable, relying up on only her own inner resources with no charms or wands to advantage.

Morgan was growing weary but it didn't show, his dark features impassive as he finally cut through the last of her defenses, his sword glinting as it cleaved head from shoulders.

Dean fell to his knees, screaming in horror at the sight. Then he looked up at Morgan with eyes filled with overwhelming raw pain. "I hope you die." He said. "Painfully. God...Melissa..."

"You'll get over it." Morgan said as he lay a cloth over the body, to hide it from Dean as much as take care of the remains. "Once the spell is broken. She tried to kill both of you... Count yourself lucky I came as quickly as I did."

"It wasn't your business." Dean said through a clenched jaw as he just watched the cloth, and the form under it, until it was just a cloth on the floor, which Morgan scooped up and folded carefully. "I won't forget this." He said as he got up. He had to go back out to Sam, after all.

"I don't imagine you will." Morgan said. He figured Samuel and Dresden would take care of the spell. It wasn't his business after all. He simply faded from view.  
Sam was headed into plane just as Dean was coming off. He didn't have to ask what had happened, he had only to look in his brother's eyes to know the truth. 

Dean looked at his brother and kept walking. "You want to wait for Jessica or come home with me?" He said, flatly, softly. Nearly defeatedly. Hanging around an airport wasn't something he wanted to do. Not right now. Not with that plane in the hangar.

"I'll go with you. Jessica's flight is two hours away still." Sam said. "I'll drive. " He didn't trust Dean to be on his own like this. "Harry is working on a way to break the spell." He said quietly.

"Forget about it." Dean said. "I'm driving, it's my freaking car." He said as he walked through the airport again. Eyes straight ahead. As quick as he could. "Forget about it all. I'm fine."

"Bull shit." Sam said. "You are anything but fine." It didn't take a shrink to see that Dean was falling apart inside. His heart was broken, and he had just watched the woman he loved die... after the earlier betrayal. There was no way anyone would be alright.

"I'm always fine." Dean said as he unlocked the car and got in the driver's seat before Sam could start again. "Look, I don't want to talk about it. Ever. I don't want to sit and rehash this thing, I never want it brought up again. By either of you."

"You don't want to talk about it, that's fine, but I'm not going to let you go through the rest of your life suffering over this. Morning her like Dad mourned Mom. You don't deserve that... and neither does she."

"Sam..." Dean growled out in unison with the engine, warningly. "I told you to drop it. You're not dropping it. Just back off, okay?" 

Sam sighed and fell silent. Dean wasn't himself. It would take time. Especially since it would take time for them to sort out how to undo the nightmare of a spell she cast over him. "I'm sorry, dude. Sounds lame I know... but I'm sorry you're hurting like this. You have enough tequila at home?"

"Can there be enough tequila?" He said as he pulled into a liquor store and took out the company credit card. "Here, go get me more. Figure the company should pay for it, since, well, you know." Since it was the company that brought Melissa into his life.

"Yeah I know." He said as he took the card and went inside. He grabbed two more bottles of tequila, and then borrowed the phone inside to call Harry, who promised to meet them at the mansion.

"Two should do it." Sam said as he got into the car and handed his brother the card back.

"Thought you were planning on drinking with me." Dean said with a scoff as he drove back to the mansion. He looked at Harry. "Not a word. About anything." He said. "I'm sure the council will handle the disappearance of my fiancee, you know, so Morningway Enterprises doesn't take a hit in the stocks. Would sure hate for their tithes to get cut after all."

"Dean...we're not the enemy here." Harry said, very much worried about his young cousin.

"I'll make sure it's handled tastefully." Sam said. He was the novice on the council but he had at least a little influence.

"I know you will, Sam." Dean said as he grabbed one of the bottles from the cabinet. Then grabbed another. Because, dammit, one of them was his alone. "So what should we talk about besides that? And Sam, you'll tell Jess, right? Because I don't want to go through this again."

"Yeah I'll tell her. I told the driver to go pick her up. Gonna try and get her to go home in the morning though. She needs to get back for that anatomy lab."

"You got exams coming up too, Sam." Dean said. "I don't need to be babysat. I'm the older brother, remember? Besides, it's not like it's anything that won't heal. Shoulder feels fine. Knee...will in a few days. Head..well, no sense no pain, right?"

"You shouldn't be alone right now." Sam said. Spell or not, the woman he loved had just been killed right before his eyes. He didn't remember it happening to his mother but he remembered what it had done to his father clearly enough. He didn't want that for his brother.

"Sam, stop it." Dean said. "I'm not Dad. Melissa wasn't Mom. You know, for someone who was a baby when all that happened, you sure like to personalize it all the time."

"Personalize it...I lived with the same father you did, Dean. Okay. No, Melissa wasn't Mom, but that doesn't mean that it isn't tearing you apart inside. Doesn't matter why you love her... fact is you do and no one is fine after seeing something like that. Not even you."

"Yeah, well, give me time." Dean said as he took a long drink from the bottle. "And a few bottles. A couple of hang overs later and I'll be fine. Harry, tell him not to worry so much."

"I will... once the spell is broken. I have Bob working on it. In the mean time, we can work on those hangovers for you." He said pouring a drink for him and Sam.

"If the situation were reversed you would be breathing down the Council's neck to make sure the spell was broken and sitting on top of me 24/7 until it happened so don't tell me I worry too much." Sam pointed out. 

"It stays." Dean said in between drinks. "I'm a target. I'm a great big non magical target. Because I'm easy access to the bloodline, the council seat, and a whole crap load of money. But if it stays, done by a woman who can't make use of it, no one else can can do it."

"And you can't ever find the real thing either, because you will always be in love with Melissa." Sam said. "You don't deserve that, Dean. Not every woman out there is looking to use you that way."

"I said it stays." Dean said as he got up, the chair falling behind him. He stalked off to his room and slammed the door behind him. Harry let out a low whistle.

"Well, that went well." He said, taking a drink himself.

"About as well as I expected." Sam said honestly. "I'll stick around until the binge is done, but then he's right I have to get back to school. He'll pull it together." He sighed. "I almost feel guilty, ya know."

"You feel guilty? I killed someone with black magic, and I'm still here. Melissa didn't technically hurt anyone." Harry pointed out. Though, what Melissa did was considered worse than murder, circumventing someone's will like she had circumvented Dean's.

"You were defending yourself, Harry. Justin was a murderer. As much as I hate to admit that. Melissa was going to turn Dean into her slave. And I am still not convinced that she wouldn't have killed him once she had all the children she wanted from him." 

"I know. I know that. Dean might not be able to tell the difference for a while. You don't think he's going to do something stupid, do you?" Harry asked, worriedly. Dean had a hot temper he focused into other areas. Didn't make him any less of a loose cannon though.

"Yeah I do." Sam said. "I don't think he'll suicide or anything. Not actively. I think he will passively do it. Toss himself into the hunt looking for something big enough to do it for him."

Harry sighed. "Morgan could have tried to be a bit more diplomatic about it." He said with a shake of his head, just imagining how it went down. "He'll be fine, we just have to get him over the hump I think."

Sam nodded. "Still. Once I go back to Stanford, can you keep an eye on him for me?" Sam asked getting to his feet. Dean had been given a few minutes to cool off. Now it was time to go after him.

"Absolutely." Harry said. "He's my family too." He pointed out. "He might issue a restraining order on me, but technically I own part of this house too."

Sam laughed. "It's big enough you could still keep a hundred feet away from him." He said as he started toward the door Dean had left through.

Dean was sitting on his expansive bedroom floor, back up against the bed. He'd dumped an ice bucket on his knee, he figured that counted as treating it, and just kept drinking. "Sam, I'm not going to hang myself, shoot myself or do something girlie like slit my wrists, okay?" He said as soon as he heard the knob turning.

"I know." Sam said as he came over and sat down on the floor beside his brother. He didn't say anything more. Dean didn't need words right now. Didn't need reminders or warnings. He just didn't need to be alone.


	7. Chapter 7

Two years. It had been two years since Melissa. That one name encompassed a whole big scheme of things, really. Things Dean really tried not to think about. So he was forced to distract himself. With the company. With the hunt. He'd be gone for weeks at a time on a hunt, the skills Justin had hired people to teach him coming in handy. Learning on the job, much like with the business. And he had the scars to prove it too. Medals of honor for the most part, of another hunt survived and won.

Whole rooms in the mansion were turned into weapon rooms. Research rooms. Artifact rooms. He kept an eye on the market, for anything that might come up for sale, legally or illegally, relics of different cultures with supernatural meanings and symbology. It was important. At least to him.

He made sure to talk to Harry and Sam, they worried too much. Way too much. But he let them know he was okay, made them think he was having the time of his life. Which, well, he was.

This was what his father had raised him to be, and it was something that Justin had only forged. Sure, Morgan was probably trying to find a loophole to kill him or something, but so far the warden hadn't been able to do anything. Which was too bad, because Dean would have liked to get into something with Morgan. Something guaranteed to be painful.

There was one creature he'd never been able to get a bead on, and that was the one that killed his father. He didn't want to do it. He really didn't. It was all ways of wrong, since it was his father. But finally, after so many dead ends, he came to Bob with the urn containing his father's ashes.

"I need to know what killed him." He said, setting the urn on the table.

Bob looked from Dean to the urn and sighed a little. Not his usual petulant sigh, something more... sympathetic. "I can only show you what he looked like at the moment of death, Dean. It may or may not tell you what you need to know, and it's almost guaranteed to be ... unpleasant."

Dean steeled himself. "If I can see the wounds, I might be able to identify the creature." He said. "Just...do it." He knew what Bob was going to show him would not be how he'd like to remember his father, but it was necessary. If it were gruesome enough, might even give him even more drive.

Bob nodded and reached within to touch the remains. His image glowed a moment, then transformed into a tallish blond man, with narrow shoulders and a bullet hole in his forehead.

Dean stared at the image for a long moment. Shock apparent on his face. "That's not my father." He said softly as Bob returned to his normal appearance. "Bob, that's not my father. My father had dark hair, and huge shoulders...hold on I have a picture." He said, going through his wallet for a folded up and faded picture of himself, Sam and their father. He showed it to Bob. "What you just showed me, that's not my father." He didn't know how to take this. For fifteen years he thought his father was dead. That his father's ashes were interred. But whoever was in those ashes, that wasn't his father. "I should sit." He said and went to Harry's fridge. "He have any beer anywhere?"

"Yes, he has some... if that isn't your father... It is possible that your father... is ... still alive."

Dean shut the fridge at that and went through the cabinets, finding a bottle of Jack Daniels. This was a liquor moment. "Still alive." Dean repeated. Another thing he didn't know how to take. His carefully compartmentalized world was starting to crumble. "I gotta go to California." 

"It's only a possibility, Dean." Bob said. "Justin knew the people that were caring for you and your brother before you came to us. It's possible it was a set up... but it is equally possible Justin produced a body to give you closure. He sincerely cared for you."

"Did he?" Dean shot back. A lot of things in his life were in flux right now, a weird limbo zone, if his father was truly still alive. "Or was it just to get to Sam and all that magic mumbo jumbo? The guy was into the black arts, doesn't that mean he's evil or something, at least according to you guys?"

"Even an evil soul is capable of love." Bob said. "After all... I loved very deeply once upon a time, and it was my grimoire that your uncle used for his darkest magic. His motives were impure, but if there were not affection, genuine affection, your lives would have been very different."

"Fine, fine. I get that." He said. "But I'm going on the assumption that either my father is alive, or Justin had something to do with his death. Because right now, that's how it's looking. Tell Harry, I finished all his Jack, I'll get him some more when I get back from California."

"How do you think Samuel is going to take this news?" Bob asked, concerned for the two of them. "Perhaps you should wait for Harry to return."

"I'm good." Dean said. "I'm gonna drive out there, I need the road trip, clear my head. Figure out some way to prove it one way or the other."

"Do you remember any of your father's former associates?" Bob asked. "Perhaps they would know one way or another."

"I was really young, it wasn't like we spent holidays and celebrations with them." Dean said. "There was Bobby, Pastor Jim, Caleb, Joshua...I don't know their last names. And some of them, like Joshua, I don't even really know where they lived."

"If this Pastor Jim was actually a clergyman, he might be the easiest to track down." Bob suggested.

"I'll look into it." Dean said. "Won't be that hard if he were an actual priest, right?" He sighed and put the bottle in the garbage. "Thanks, Bob."

"I'm glad I could help. Be careful out there." This was different than merely hunting down the monsters people refused to believe existed. This was hunting down their father... and once more drawing the attention of the demon that killed their mother.

"Will do." Dean said as he left. Packed a bag and drove to California. The people at the company, they weren't happy, but they were used to somewhat erratic behavior from their young CEO. After all, he was 26. Some erratic behaviors were expected. Besides, he had his lap top and his cell phone. Even if Donald was the only one that could get ahold of him. He drove to California, quickly. He made good time, but still pulled up in front of Sam's apartment in the middle of the night.

All the lights were out, which meant Dean would just have to wake him up, as he picked the lock and came in. No noises, good, he was sleeping and not doing something else, like having sex.

Sam's eyes opened. He heard someone out in the living room, and it wasn't Jess. He got up and pulled on his jeans, tucking his wand into the back pocket as he quietly made his way across the floor, and peered out the door, before slipping out into the hall.

He followed the sounds into his living room, spying the intruder in the shadows and approached slowly. Cautiously.

Dean cocked his head when his brother made a floor board creak. And ducked behind a corner. Despite the reason he came, this was nearly fun as he waited, counted silently, and jumped Sam in the dark.

Sam hit the floor with disturbing ease, but rolled out of his attackers grasp. His wand was in his hand instantly and the tip glowed brightly as Dean went flying backwards, into the wall. 

Dean hit the wall with a loud 'son of a bitch!' "That's cheating!" He called out.

"Dean?" Sam asked getting off the floor. "What the hell are you doing here? Are you alright?"

Dean picked himself off the floor he had slid to and shook himself out. "Ran out of beer." He said, as if that explained driving from Chicago to Palo Alto. "Got one?"

Sam looked at his brother as though he had sprouted a second head. "You are telling me you came from Chicago to raid my fridge? Dude, what potions have you been getting into?"

"All right, all right. We gotta talk." Dean said. "I was going to let you sleep and camp out on your couch, but you decided to go all protective. In a completely weak way too...I wasn't even trying very hard."

"No but you hit the wall pretty hard." Sam said as he went to get them two beers from the fridge. "So what is it you needed to talk to me about? Must be important to bring you all the way out here."

"What? I can't drive across country on a whim to beat my baby brother up?" Dean said with a grin as he took his beer. Then he got serious. "Yeah, it's important. I was trying to get a hit on the thing that killed Dad...I took his ashes out of burial...those ashes aren't Dad. Positively not him. Bob did his thing."

"What?" Sam asked in confusion. "Not Dad... but why... what does that mean?" He sank down onto the sofa. "Does that mean he wasn't salted and burned and could be out there haunting? Does it mean he's alive?" He didn't want to think about alternatives. That their father had told those people to lie and say he was dead because he didn't want them, or that he just didn't come back and they assumed he was dead. Had Justin had something to do with his disappearance or death? Too many questions with unpleasant answers. 

"I don't know." Dean said. "All I know is those weren't his ashes. I did some leg work, remember that friend of Dad's, Pastor Jim? I think I tracked him down. Do you have any idea how many priests and reverends there are named James?" Dean shook his head, but he narrowed it down to priest, he remembered the Roman collar the man had worn. And remembered, after deep thought and a lot of whisky, the general area of his church. Now he had a name and an address. "Thought we could go talk to him."

Sam took a deep breath. "Okay... where is it? I have to be back here on Monday morning... I have an interview with the dean of admissions, about getting into Law School." He had come through pre-law at the top of his class and pretty much aced his exams. It was still a matter of passing the interview. "It's at 10am."

"Ten am. Okay, we'll be back before then." Dean said. "Promise. We're just going to talk to Pastor Jim, if it's the right one anyway, see what he knows and go from there. No matter what bombshell he drops on us, we might need a breather after that anyway. So I'll have you back in time for that. But we'd have to leave right now."

"Okay, let me go pack and let Jess know what's going on." Sam said. He had no idea how he was going to explain it. He wasn't sure how he felt about it, hadnt had time to process it.

He went back into the bedroom and sat down beside Jess and gently nudged her awake. "Baby wake up, we need to talk."

"What?" Jess said, waking up slowly. She was a deep sleeper. She'd nearly roused at the sound of Dean hitting the wall, but figured it was the neighbors or something. "Baby, what's wrong?" She looked at the clock. "Sam, it's three in the morning."

"Yeah, I know. Dean is here." He said as he took her hand, needing the comfort her presence gave. His mind was whirling and his emotions were spiraling even faster as he tried to process it all.

Jess sat up a bit more. "Your brother is here? In our apartment. In the middle of the night. Is he okay? This is beyond drunk dialing. Is it Harry?"

"He's okay... they both are... " Sam took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He explained what Dean had come to tell him. "I'm gonna go with him to see Pastor Jim. I'll be back in time for the interview with the Dean."

"Sam, this interview is a real big deal." Jess said. "And, okay, it's completely in character for Dean to be all impulsive, but not you. I'm sure there's a whole other explanation."

"I know it's a big deal. That's why I am going to be sure to make it back in time. But I have to know. There is no way I could concentrate on the meeting until I know what happened to my dad. Hunters talk. If anyone would know it would be Jim. He and this other guy named Bobby are probably the only friends my father managed to have. He should know. I'll be back by Monday morning if I have to fly back on my own. I promise. I can't let Dean go deal with this alone."

Jess sighed. "All right. All right, I get it." She said. "You and Dean try to have a little fun, all right? I'll be here."

"I'll call you as soon as I know anything." He promised and leaned in to kiss her gently. 10 minutes later he was joining his brother in the living room, bag in hand. "Let's go."

"Okay." Dean said. "I really appreciate you coming with." Dean said, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand as they headed down to the Impala. He had no idea what Jim was going to say. If it was him.

It was a long drive, and the discussion along the way was their father. What they remembered about the people he knew, what they remembered about him. In Sam's case, it wasn't as much as he would have liked. He barely remembered the man at all. He remembered feeling loved, up until he left them. Remembered the hunt, although he remembered Dean trying to protect him from that knowledge too. When he thought of that period of his life, most of what he remembered was Dean.

Dean remembered a lot more, and he had a hero worship for their father, even still. Even as much as he tried to hide it in his voice. John was the be all and end all of heroes. But they pulled up in front of the church just as people were filing in for mass. Dean winced.

"Crap, we're going to have to sit in a church." He said. "Sit still in a church." He clarified. He was never good at that.

"We can go in, see if it's him... if not we leave, go get drunk and drive back to Cali in the morning." Sam said. If it was, they could sit there and try not to hurl as their nerves and questions rolled around in their stomachs, get their answers and THEN go get drunk and drive back to Cali the next morning.

Dean nodded and they found a seat in one of the last pews. The moment the priest stepped up to the pulpit, Dean elbowed his brother. "That's him. It's him. I remember the voice." They didn't have a good enough view for visual recognition, and it had been over fifteen years anyway. NOW Dean thought he was going to hurl.

Sam's knee bounced through out the service, hands toying with whatever book was in reach. He was nervous. He didn't remember Pastor Jim as much as he remembered the idea of him. He knew that was who they were to call if something went wrong and their father didn't come back. Knew that they had spent time with him in the past. A five year old's memories were quite distant to a 23 year old man.

Dean twitched and squirmed throughout the service. But he became rock still when Pastor Jim led the recessional out of the church. He was older than Dean thought he would be. But the ever benevolent expression was still intact. The two brothers continued to sit as everyone else filed out, greeted the priest, and left. Leaving them in an empty church waiting for the priest to come back inside.

Pastor Jim came back into the church and paused seeing the two young men seated at the back of the church. He had never seen them in his church before, but there was something strangely familiar about them. "Can I help you?" He asked quietly. 

Dean opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. Realized that he didn't want to know. Not really. Maybe a little. Okay, he did. But whatever came out of this man's mouth had the potential to turn his entire reality on its head. He wasn't sure he was ready for that. So instead he stood up. "Nah, it was a mistake." He said. "Come on, Sam. We gotta go."

Sam didn't budge. "Hi." He said instead. "I'm Sam Winchester and this is my brother Dean... we ... we think we used to know you." He said extending his hand to the clergyman.

Jim shook Sam's hand in an automatic gesture as he paled as his eyes went wide. "Winchester?" He repeated. "As in John Winchester?" He looked in shock between the two brothers, yes, now he could see John in them. "Dear God in Heaven..." He breathed out. "I have to sit." He said, releasing Sam's hand and sitting in the pew in front of them, turning so as to look at them. "Dean and Sam...I never thought I'd see you two again."

"So you do know us?" Dean said, sitting back down. His chest felt like there was a huge rock in it that he couldn't make go away as he looked at the priest. "What happened to our father?"

"Your father... well..." He said and took a deep breath. "After you two went missing you father... well he went a little crazy for time. Which he was never the most stable of men. At least not after your mother was killed. He searched for you boys for a couple years, until they found the people that had taken you. With them dead we feared the worst. There was no way to track you after that. Eventually he threw himself back into the hunt even harder than before. He hasn't kept in contact with any one in a long time. Keeps to himself, I think Bobby Singer sees more of him than anyone and that's a rare occurrence. " He couldn't believe he was actually looking at the Winchester boys. It was all so surreal. "Come back to the rectory with me." He said. "I think this conversation calls for something a little more substantial than communion wine."

Dean followed mutely behind. This was a bombshell. Their father was a live. He looked at Sam as they headed to the rectory. "So you have no idea where he is?" He asked as Pastor Jim found his vodka.

"I haven't heard from him in two years." He said apologetically as he poured a belt into three glasses. 

"What about Bobby? Do you have any idea how to get in touch with him?" Sam asked.

"I haven't spoken to Bobby in years myself but he's still where he always was, don't think he will ever move on." He took a drink, exhaling slowly. "I'll get that for you when you leave. There's a road house that Ellen Harvelle runs. Alot of hunters come through there. Someone there might have seen your father as well.Or at least know what he was hunting last. " He shook his head. "Where have you two been all this time?"

"Chicago." Dean said. "We were told by those people, Erin and Tom, that he was dead." It was all too much conspiracy like for Dean's taste. "So we've been in Chicago pretty steadily since then. We did good, we're holding our own."

Sam wondered at why Dean was being so closed about it all, but he supposed he didn't blame him. "Look ahm... could you put the word out that we're looking for him? Or maybe that you're looking for him instead. Don't know that he would believe we're alive just on some random grapevine thing. "

"He probably won't." Pastor Jim agreed, in fact he could barely believe it himself. Though there were flashes of the children they were. Dean, standing ever so slightly in front of his brother, ready to shoulder him out of the way of harm. Sam with his curiosity and endless questions. The children that he had known were part of the men that they had become. "But I'll pass the message that I'm looking for him."

Dean nodded and wrote down his cell number. "And when he calls, call us." He said. Until then. he'd track his father along with everything else he was tracking. 

Sam gathered up the information on Bobby Singer and the road house. "It was good to see you again." He told Jim and led the way out of the rectory and back to the car. He was even more confused than when he had walked in the door. He wasn't sure what to feel or think about it all.

Dean refused to think of anything at all. All this time their father was alive. It was too trippy. "I'll talk to Bobby." Dean said. "We have to get you back for your exam and Bobby's in the opposite direction."

Sam nodded. "It's an interview... aced the exam... " He was numb. "If ahm... he knows anything let me know and I'll fly out. " He didn't want Dean dealing with this on his own. It was far too much for either of them to deal with on thier own. He wasn't sure it wasn't too much to deal with together just yet. 

"Oh. Okay." Dean said. "Either way, turn on the charm and the puppy dog eyes, and you'll ace the interview too. Might actually be easier than the test. You're a people person, Sam." He said with a chuckle. Filling space. Not leaving Sam room to ask how he felt about this. Because he didn't know. "So I'll go look up Bobby, see what he knows, then I don't know, maybe we'll leave it alone. I mean, we'll know he's alive. That should be enough, right?"

"Dean..." Sam said looking at his hands for a moment then back at his brother. "He thinks we're dead... I don't know... don't you think we ought to at least... talk to him?"

"And say what? Guess what, we're not dead?" Dean said as he went through his box of tapes with his free hand. "I'm not sure I have anything to say to the man...look, let's just see what Bobby has to say. I mean, Pastor Jim hasn't seen him in a couple of years, he could very well be dead. I'm not going to make any what if plans until I know."

"Dean... he came back for us... he had to have or he wouldn't have known that we were missing." Sam said. "I ... I at least want to see him. I don't know... just... He's our father. Whether we ever speak to him again after that, who knows."

"Sam, he couldn't have looked really hard. It's not like we've moved around when we were kids!" Dean shot back. He was hurt, because his father couldn't have looked very hard, which in Dean's mind meant he didn't want to. "Damn, my name's been all over the financial papers since Uncle Justin died...speaking of which, that was his brother in law. Sure they probably hated each other, but if he had come to the funeral at least..."

"Do you really see Dad reading the financial pages?" Sam asked. "Hell, do you see him reading anything that wasn't occult related? And how many funerals do you think Dad really goes to? That don't involve him salting and burning the corpse. What reason would he have had to go to Chicago? For all we know they led him in circles. It's what I want to find out. It's going to eat at me until I know." 

"Fine, fine." Dean said, shaking his head. "Maybe he's got something on the demon that killed Mom. God knows I'm running into dead ends." Because he was going on a four year old's memory of that night. Which, while more complete and vivid a memory than any four year old should have, was still a memory of a four year old.

"Okay. Besides... if he didn't really look for us... wouldn't it be more satisfying to punch him in the nose then pretend that not talking to him is punishment enough?" Sam said with a laugh.

"Now, Sammy, you know that violence isn't the answer to everything." Dean said, imitating his brother's cadence. For that was Sam's mantra to Dean on more than one occasion. "But it would be a lot more satisfying. You're right. So we'll find him, surprise him, beat him up and leave. Once you get your interview overwith. He's not allowed to screw up your life."

Sam laughed. "Okay. Agreed. Jess would kill me if I let him screw things up. " He looked over at his brother and smiled. "I bought a ring." 

Dean did a double take. "You bought a what?" He asked. "Whoa. That's...that's big, man." He said, grinning. "Now you just have to get her to say yes. Guess you better not miss the interview after all."

Sam smiled broadly. "Yeah... it's not like we have to work in order to pay the bills while going to school. We could get married anytime. " Sam had been having strange dreams the last few months. Things he couldn't explain that had him wanting to cement his future. Force it down the road he had chosen.

"Yeah, well, if you miss this interview, she'll kill you." Dean said. "And she doesn't strike me as a necro type, so guess you have to live after all. Her mother will probably take out a full paged ad in all the big newspapers about this too."

"Oh I know. Hoping to avoid telling her until oh... the week of the wedding." Sam said with a laugh, but knew that was completely unreasonable. "You know... it's scary. Most people worry about the mother in law not liking them... I think Branwen likes me too much. Or at least the bloodline."

"Oh she loves the bloodline. Makes me glad I'm a magical null zone. Keeps me off the radar of most of the matchmakers in the wizard community." Dean said. "I just gotta worry about debutantes who want me for my money."

"Money dates money, Dean. It's supposedly to prevent gold digging. Who knows? I'm just glad Jess isn't like her mother. She wouldn't have put up with me for this long if she were."

"Dude, you wouldn't have put up with her this long if she was." Dean said with a chuckle as they stopped for drive through and drove straight back to Palo Alto. "I'm gonna get a hotel, dude. Gotta hook up the lap top and go over some stuff for the company once in a while, right?" And Jess and Sam and his lap top in one place spelled trouble.

"Okay. Call me tomorrow." He said as he got out of the car, and grabbed his bag out of the back. "I'll let you know how the interview goes." He said his goodbyes and headed back up the stairs to their apartment.

"Jess?" He called out, as he set his bag down. "I'm home." He smiled seeing the plate of cookies and love note awaiting him. He walked toward his bedroom, barely able to keep his eyes open.

He lay down on the bed, and closed his eyes, hoping that Jess would be back before he drifted off. He twitched a little as the first droplets hit his face. He wiped at the next, opening his eyes.

"No!" He screamed out seeing Jessica pinned above him, blood dripping from an open would. "Jess!" He got out as the flames erupted around her.

Dean was driving toward the hotel, he got a block away from his brother's place when his radio started to conk out. He narrowed his eyes at it as he checked his cell phone. It was recieving a weak signal...

Something gnawed at the pit of his stomach, so he turned around and headed back to Sam's, pulling up just as he saw one of the windows break from flames on the inside. That was Sam's apartment!

He raced up the stairs, kicked in the door. Sam's bedroom was on fire. He followed the flames to Sam's room...

And saw Jess. Memories flashed in front of his eyes. And Dean did the same thing he had done twenty two years ago...

He grabbed his brother and ran. This time pulling him off the bed and dragging him out of the apartment, even as Sam protested and fought him.

"No!" Sam screamed hysterically as his brother pulled him out of the building. "Jess" He sobbed. "Oh god, Dean..."

Dean pulled and pushed and shoved his brother until Sam was in the front seat of the Impala. His father's words echoing in his head. _'Take your brother outside as fast as you can. Don't look back! Now, Dean! Go!'_

It was still good advice as Dean dragged him into the hotel room. Dean started pacing. And it just got faster as he realized it was past midnight. He pulled out a bottle of tequila, took the top off and pressed it into his brother's hands. "Drink. Now." He said. Oh god, why did this have to happen? Especially today?

Sam moved over to the far corner and sank down to the floor and pulled his knees up to his chin and rocked.  
Jessica was dead.

Gone. 

The tears started to fall silently, and his shoulders shuddered with each hitching breath. All thoughts of college, their father, the responsibilities of his council seat were all gone...Nothing remained but a searing pain in his chest, and the desperate desire to have perished along side her. 

Dean stopped his pacing and looked at Sam. Right now he looked like a five year old trapped in a huge body. With a sigh he sat down next to his brother and took the bottle from him, drinking. Because if Sam wasn't going to, he sure as hell was.

"It was the same thing that took Mom." Dean said quietly. Because he remembered the flames from that night. He'd never forget those flames, and tonight, it was like a flashback. Mom pinned to the ceiling, bleeding, before she burst into flames. Jessica pinned to the ceiling, bleeding, before she burst into flames. Baby Sam in his crib below, Adult Sam in his bed below. "It's November second." He said, even quieter.

"What?" Sam asked, looking up. Dean's words had barely registered through the grief. "I don't understand." He said. He didn't remember anything of his mother, and Dean didn't speak much of her death other than it had been a demon that had killed her. 

Dean took a long drink out of the bottle before answering Sam. "Mom. That's how Mom died. Today, twenty two years ago, Mom died like this." It was painful to even remember. And every other year he was able to convince himself it was just another day. Sure, ten to one he'd get wasted by the end of that 'just another day,' but this...this was too close to home. "We gotta find Dad now."

Sam nodded. "In my nursery... I remember hearing it happened in my nursery. was it... was it because of me?" He asked. Jessica was dead because of him, he knew that of a certainty. But his mother... was his mother's death because of him too?

"What? No!" Dean said and passed Sam the bottle. "It was a random demon attack. Because humanity is their favorite snack food, whether literally or through misery and pain. It just happened to happen there. He's probably stalking our family because we're just too fun to leave alone."

"A demon that just gets its jollies pinning women over my head and setting them on fire?" Sam didn't believe that. A random attack wouldn't have been repeated. "You're right. We have to find our father. I don't care why he left... don't care if he looked for us or not. I want to know what killed Jessica."

"Then looks like we've got a mission." Dean said. "You want me to call her mother? Or wait for the cops to do it?"

"I ahm... it should come from family...I should... god I can't do it... I can't even process it myself, how can I explain it to her mother?" Sam was falling apart. 

"I'll do it." Dean said and took out his cellphone, one steadying hand on his brother's shoulder. "Hi, Mrs Moore? This is Dean Winchester, Sam's brother. No, I'm good. I'm in California. That's what I was calling about. There was...there was a fire. In their apartment. I don't know how it started, the fire department is looking into it. They're saying accidental right now. No...No, Jess didn't make it." He paused as Branwen went off on Dean. "I know, I'm sorry. No, no, I'll handle everything out here, promise. I understand. Got it. All right." He hung up and took another drink.

He remembered the investigator coming to his father and saying it was an electrical fire. Yeah, sure, an electrical fire that started in the ceiling where there were no wires. Sure, that made sense. But his father knew the truth and let the man think what he wanted. Much like Dean was going to do with Jessica's mother.

Right now, Mrs Moore wasn't his priority. His brother was. He was back in 'Take Care of Sammy' mode, if he ever really got out of it.

"How did he do it? How did he take care of us after losing her? I... " he shook his head and downed the alcohol, wondering how much it would take to get the images out of his head.

"He didn't have a choice." Dean said. "We kept him going, and he needed to keep going. Other than that, I don't know how he did it." Though Dean did know. Dean did it.

"I'm going to cancel the interview tomorrow." Sam said. "They'll understand." Not that it really mattered now. That future was tied in with Jessica. They were both gone now.

"Why don't you just put it on hold?" Dean suggested. In the meantime they'd find their father and demand some answers.

Sam shook his head. "Can't face this place... I'll apply at Loyola. Move back home." It wasn't exactly a lie. He couldn't face the world he had shared with Jess. Couldn't face their mutual friends. He wasn't even sure he could handle a mirror right that moment. Loyola... it was a good stall. Something amorphous in the future he didn't want to look at.

Dean nodded. Now wasn't the time to talk about that anyway. So he went to his bag and took out a few bottles of painkillers and muscle relaxants, tapping out a few of each and handing them to Sam. "Take these. And go to bed. We've got a long drive ahead of us." He had to call Harry.

Sam looked at the pills in his hand, staring at them blankly before finally swallowing them. He rose slowly and made his way to the bed, tears falling unchecked as he draped his long form over the bed, closing his arms around the pillow.

Dean waited until Sam was lying down and stepped out into another room, turning on his lap top and calling Harry. "Harry...it's Dean. Are you sitting down?"

"Yeah, How did your trip go? Bob told me about your father's ashes. Sorry I wasn't here."

"I'm still in California, some hotel in Palo Alto. We found a friend of my dad's who confirms he was alive at least two years ago." Dean said. "Harry...Jessica was killed tonight."

"What?" Harry said, feeling the blood drain from his face. "How? By whom? Please tell me you are bringing Sammy home."

"I can't." Dean said. "We gotta find our dad. Harry, it was the demon that killed my mother. It took Jess, I had to pull Sam out of the fire. I...I gotta find Dad. We need answers."

"Don't let that hunt for answers destroy the life you have now, Dean. I'll start putting out feelers for him. See what I can come up with. Hunters and Wizards tend to cross paths more often than they think."

"Life?" Dean said. "I attend business meetings and kill demons and banish restless spirits. Most wouldn't call any of that a life. We got one more person to talk to, a Bobby Singer. He used to watch us when we were kids. If that doesn't pan out, we'll come back to Chicago."

"You have a home, a business and family that cares about you. You have a life, Dean. More importantly you have a choice in how you live that life. Just don't want to see you endangering that choice. Call me when you get into town, and I'll come over. Tell Sam... well... just let him know I'm here if he needs anything." What else could he do? Tell him he was sorry a hundred times? This time it wasn't Harry that had taken a loved one from him. It would just sound empty 

"I'll call you either way." Dean said. "So you don't worry." Choice? He didn't have a choice now. That demon was on his hit list, sitting in the number one spot. He wouldn't rest until it was sent back to hell.

Sam woke late the following morning, not that he wanted to. He shifted position on the bed, and closed his eyes once more. He was still trying to process it all. It played out in front of his eyes over and over again, and it still made no sense.

He sat up and ran his hand through his hair, and sighed

"Well good morning, sunshine." Dean said as he finished up a conference by webcam. News of Jessica's death would hit the Chicago society by that afternoon, most likely, so it was very believable that the Winchesters were going into seclusion to deal with it all. Nice cover, luckily. "Ready to hit the road?" Sam didn't look like he was in the mood for small talk.

Sam nodded. "How do you do this willingly?" He asked his brother. "I just want to crawl under a rock and hide from it all...but you choose to live with it when you don't have to."

Or maybe Sam was in the mood for small talk. Dean raised an eyebrow at his brother. "What 'this'?" He asked. "The fact that a demon killed Mom and I will walk to the ends of the earth and back again until it's dead?"

"This being... grief...my god...you get up every morning and deal with this for 2 years. I wanted to die with her last night." Sam said as he pulled on his shoes.

"It sucks." Dean said with a shrug. "And you don't get over it. You just...deal with it. It gets easier to deal with, I promise." He finished packing. "Alcohol helps, fighting helps, I won't lie." He twisted the white gold ring on his right hand briefly before resuming packing up his lap top and moving onto the bags.

"Fucking Winchester Curse." Sam said as he headed into the bath room. "So where is Bobby these days?" He asked. He was even more determined to get rid of the spell on his brother.

"South Dakota." Dean said. "So we've got a drive ahead of us. Which is fine, I like to drive." He'd sold the jet shortly after Melissa. Now if he absolutely had to go overseas, and couldn't get out of it, he chartered a jet. He still hated flying. And someday he'd even admit that it terrified him, which is why he dosed himself with sedatives and sleeping pills before every flight. "He's always been there, runs a salvage yard. I remember that, I just couldn't remember where it was." 

"Let's do it then." Sam said as he came out of the bathroom and grabbed his bag on the way to the door. He wanted to get moving. Do something. Anything to keep from thinking. From feeling.

Dean nodded and checked out of the hotel. All he knew to do was be there for Sam. Just sit there and let him vent, or let him be quiet, just be there. He might not participate in a heart to heart, but he'd let Sam do it all he wanted. He'd just...be there. He didn't know what else to do as they got to the Impala and started to drive to South Dakota.

They got there a few days later, just rolling on up the driveway. Staying a safe distance from the dog that was barking and knocking on the door. 

Bobby Singer closed the book and his research notes and made his way to the door. He wasn't expecting company and it was too late to be business. At least the sort of business that made him money.

He looked out the window as he walked by and paused, staring out at the driveway. How many mint condition black 67 Impalas could there be in the world?  
"Ah hell, Winchester." He said, figuring John had purchased another one somewhere. He grabbed his shot gun with a sigh as he opened the door.

Dean stared at Bobby. The man hadn't changed at all. Oh he was a little older, but he was betting it was the same hat Bobby had worn in Dean's childhood. Then he saw the shot gun. "Whoa." He said, hands up. "We don't want trouble, promise."

"Sorry, thought you were someone else." He said with a chuckle. "What can I do for you boys?" They looked familiar, and that wasn't always a good thing in Bobby's world. So he didn't put the gun away, simply rested it against his body almost casually.

"Surprised Pastor Jim didn't give you a heads up." Dean said.

"How do you know Jim?" Bobby asked with narrowed eyes. 

"Recognize the car? I got it when I was sixteen, my uncle gave it to me." Dean said instead. "Inherited it from my father, thought he was dead. Pastor Jim tells me, on the other hand, that he last saw John Winchester alive two years ago."

Bobby looked at both brothers. "Dean? Sam?" He shook his head. "You boys better come on inside." He would have to have a word with Jim later about this, although he figured he didn't give him a heads up cause he wanted Bobby to exercise his usual caution.

The brothers followed Bobby in, and he went to his liquor cabinet, pouring three shots and passing Dean and Sam theirs. Dean looked at the glass dubiously and drank it. And made a face after Sam had drank his. "Warm water? That's not the Bobby I remember." He said and shook his head. Well, people grew old, right? Maybe Bobby couldn't handle his liquor anymore. "Where's our father?" He asked, not beating around any bush.

"Can never be too careful." Bobby said then pulled out the real thing. "Two boys come back from the dead, you damned well make sure it was a mistake, not necromancy." He sat down and poured the Cuervo. "Your daddy and I haven't been on speaking terms for a few months now."

"Great." Dean said and tossed the shot back. The week was shaping up to be a complete disaster. But why should it be easy to find their father? That would be just too nice. "We gotta talk to him, obviously. I thought he was dead for fifteen years after all."

"Believe me, we all thought the same about you two. Where the hell have you been all this time?" He asked, wondering at Sam's silence. The boy he remembered was the talkative of the two, always asking questions. Now he reminded him of John, quiet... broken.

"Chicago." Dean said. "We went there after we recieved word he was dead. After all, he left us with perfect strangers." Who didn't want to be saddled with two young boys any more than John had, in Dean's opinion. "Look, that demon...the one that killed Mom...it's back on the radar, and we need to talk to him. He's the only other one I know of that's hunting this thing."

Bobby sighed. "Dean... your daddy had planned to be back in just a couple of days. Wound up in the hospital. He almost WAS dead. He never meant to abandon you, he just...he had almost lost you in the hotel that night as it was." John had told him the details when he had called for help all those years ago. "That car was stolen from the hospital parking lot. So who ever has had you all this time... you can't trust what they've told you."

Sam spoke up for the first time since arriving. "I don't care about that... Dad did what he did, Uncle Justin did what he did...we wound up with a better life than we would have had with Dad. " His voice was ragged, and the words spoken hastily as though they were bitter in his mouth. "But the demon... it killed my girlfriend... same way it killed Mom...exactly the same way it killed Mom. I want the demon dealt with before someone else dies dripping blood into my face, alright?"

"On the same day as Mom was killed." Dean said, green eyes clouded with knowledge and memories before he shook his head and nodded to Sam. "We just want to find Dad. Either you know where he could be, his last location, or you don't."

Bobby sighed. "I can put out feelers. Last time I spoke to your dad, I threatened to fill him full of buck shot. He might not answer me. But I'll try. I'll put it out that I have word on ole yellow eyes activities and he'll show up."

"Thanks." Dean said and wrote down his cell phone number for Bobby. "But I'm not giving the car back." That was a definite. He loved that car. "And if you do find any information on it, let us know too."

"I'd appreciate it if you would do the same." Bobby said and looked at John's Boys long and hard. Sam said they had a better life, but Bobby wasn't so sure. They both looked as though they were holding onto their sanity by a thread right now. "It's good to know you two are alright. But listen... when you find your daddy, he isn't the same man he used to be, losing you two pretty much did him in."

"He survived." Dean said flatly. "And we're not the same kids he left at those people's house either. Changes all around, Bobby. Time moves on whether we like it or not. Tell you right now, if we find him, I don't see it going well."

"It won't go well at all. " Bobby agreed, and there was no way that it could. No matter what those boys thought or felt, John Winchester had lost what little humanity remained in him all those years ago, and the only place he had been able to find it was in the bottom of a bottle. The only thing he cared about anymore was the latest dog he took with him on the road. And killing anything that wasn't human in his eyes.

"You're right." Dean said. But dammit they needed answers. "Well, we gotta get back to Chicago." He said. Sam needed some down time before they did anything. And Harry was understandably worried.

"Well." Bobby said, getting to his feet. "I hope you boys will keep in touch." He had loved those boys. Thought of them as nephews, hell there had been times he had wished they were his. 

"We will." Dean said. He remembered things about Bobby, he was a helluva researcher. That could come in handy. And...he was a connection to a time, no matter how screwed up, when life had been a little simpler.

Sam nodded in agreement. This place, this house, held a sense of security to it. Sam remembered that. He remembered laughter here. He remembered playing and being a kid. Not specific memories, but he knew they had been boys in this house.

"Good." Bobby said. He figured when John was finally tracked down he should be there to pick up the pieces afterward. No one else would, that's for damn certain.

Dean and Sam headed out to the car, and Dean spent a second just gripping the steering wheel and exhaling. "Okay, that's one step closer. Harry's working on it too." He said. "We'll find him Sam."

Sam nodded. "I just want to go home... need to be there before Branwen sets up the..." his voice cracked, and he closed his eyes, not finishing the sentence. Simply laying his head against the passenger's door window and let it be. "Just... take me home." 

Dean nodded. He understood. Melissa had never gotten a funeral, or a memorial service. Her existence was pretty much denied in the magical community. Jessica's wouldn't be. But he made good time back to Chicago, pulling in just after two in the morning. He'd called Harry and given him a heads up that they'd be there.

Harry was waiting for them. He and Sam had gotten Dean through the first few days of Melissa's death, he and Dean would get Sam through Jessica's.

He and Sam exchanged a silent hug before the younger man walked up the stairs to his old room like a man walking down death row. Once he was out of sight, Harry turned to Dean. "Her mother is already on the war path. Apparently she knows how your mother died..."

"Bitch." Dean said and shook his head. "All right. We keep them separated." Meaning Sam and Branwen. "Anyone who wants to talk to Sam, Council included, goes through us first. He's been through enough, they're not adding to it. I mean, Harry, I barely got him out of that room."

"He doesn't look good at all, Dean. I mean, locking up the guns, meds and sharp objects not good." Harry suspected that Sam fought against Dean during the rescue. What ever killed Jessica took part of Sam with her.

"I know." Dean said with a sigh. "So we'll give him a few minutes, then intrude on his private space." They'd done it for Dean after all. "We'll get him through this. Not sure how much will be left, but he'll make it through it. But I don't care if this is a demon the council has a treaty with or not, it's going down. I will march into hell and squirrel it out myself if I have to."

Harry nodded. "This thing is after your family and I hate to say it but it seems like it's focusing on Sam. We'll find it and deal with it." Harry didn't care what the council thought about it either.

"Got some people working on that. And who knows? Maybe my father has information he'd like to share." He was still adjusting to the idea of John Winchester among the land of the living. And now this. On top of everything else. But he had a job to do, that was take care of Sam. So he grabbed a few bottles and he and Harry went to Sam's room. He opened the door and sat on the bed Sam was laying down on. And just sat. Sam didn't need words, or to be told how sorry everyone was.

Sam was all but mute as the time passed. He didn't know what to say or do anymore. Didn't know how to function. It felt like he had been abandoned all over again, and the words just wouldn't come.

The council had kept their distance as far as he knew, and Dean had been content to allow him to be quiet, as he had been when they were children.

He adjusted his tie for the 12th time and sighed, sinking down on the bed. He didn't want to go to the memorial because that would make it real.

Dean rapped on the door and came in. He took one look at Sam and sat down on the bed next to him. "You don't have to go." He pointed out quietly. "We can skip it. It's all right to do that."

Sam shook his head. "She deserves better." He said, his voice whisper soft. He was sure he was going to implode any moment."I- I should have left her alone... let her go to Vassar like her mother wanted...it's all because of me. I have to go and face them..." It was more than he had spoken the last two days combined and it felt alien.

"Sam, this is not your fault." Dean said, shaking his head. "Hey, hey, look at me. This was not your fault. We'll get through this. Then we'll go hunt the son of a bitch who did this and give him a beating straight from the heart. I promise." 

"If she hadn't been involved with me...she would still be alive." Sam knew that was what her mother thought. He knew she was right. "There isn't even a body Dean. There was nothing left... nothing of her... nothing of our life."

"Sam, nothing I say is going to make it better." Dean said. "But you don't have to go. Definitely not to please Branwen of all people." From who Dean was screening calls. That psycho wasn't talking to Sam and that was that.

"What's it going to say about her...about our relationship... if I don't go?" He shook his head. "I have to go. I won't have them talking about her .. about us that way." It wasn't like Branwen could say anything that he didn't already tell himself. It wasn't as though it could possibly hurt more than it already did.

"All right." Dean said and helped his brother up. "Then let's go, dude. Get this over with." Harry was going to meet them there. Run interference for Sam's entrance.

He could feel their eyes on him the moment he entered the funeral home. Branwen was creating something as normal as possible for the funeral. He had expected the casket, the flowers, and the organist. But the illusion of Jessica laying in the casket was too much and he nearly buckled where he stood.

Dean held him up and got him to a seat far from Branwen as quickly as possible. He thought the illusion of Jessica was low, even for Branwen. It was obvious just to punish Sam and he had to clench his jaw as he sat there. Listening to the service with half an ear, having a box of tissues passed for Sam and exchanging glances with Harry.

Branwen got up, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief. "Thank you all for coming." She said in a slightly tremulous voice. "Jessica was a people person, I know we all only had the warmest thoughts for her. Even as she went to California, to try and start a new life with a boy she thought she loved. Even as she was taken from us far too soon, before she could realize her full potential."

Thought she loved... Sam closed his eyes, and tried to close his mind to what was happening. Just a week before, Branwen had been asking him when he was going to ask Jessica to marry him. She had visited them and been warm and accepting. He almost didn't hear when she announced that Sam would be speaking next.

Sam froze. Didn't breathe. Didn't move. Didn't blink. Bambi staring down an on coming semi couldnt have looked more horrified. But he let the air out slowly and got to his feet. 

Dean put his hand on Sam's shoulder and forced him back down. Sam? Speak? Right now? Publicly? Feet away from the illusion of his dead girlfriend? That was cruel.

He got up to the podium instead. "For those of you that don't know me, I'm Dean Winchester. I'm Sam's brother. I've known Jessica just as long as Sam, we met her on the same night at one of those parties that always bores children..."

Shooting the occasional glare at Branwen for her merciless assault on his brother, he delivered an off the cuff eulogy, bringing out the lighter aspects of Jessica, to where there was even laughing out loud before he headed back to the seat. "I should seriously hurt that woman." He said under his breath as he sat back down.

"Thank you." Sam managed to get out around the lump in his throat. "She would have liked that." He told his brother and leaned forward, resting his head in his hands as the tears came once more and his shoulders shuddered with each hitching breath.

Dean didn't know what to do other than just let Sam know he wasn't alone. He'd have to go through it alone, Dean knew that from personal experience, but he wasn't alone at least. He wasn't a big hugger, he wasn't going to pat Sam's hand and say 'there, there.' So he just kept passing the tissues as the service continued on, until it was over.

"Get him out of here." He said to Harry. "I'll run interference."

Harry nodded and slipped an arm around Sam's shoulder. "Le'ts go to my place. No one here would be caught dead there." He said and started to lead Sam out of there. For no other reason than being alive, Sam had made an enemy of Branwen Moore. But she didn't want to start anything with the Morningway family. Not if she was wise.

Dean watched as they slipped out and turned his eyes back to Branwen, joining the recieving line. A chilly embrace ensued, and when Dean went to kiss her cheek, as was customary, his mouth lingered close to her ear.

"Don't try that again with my brother. Leave him alone, he's been through enough." He said so only she could hear, a warning growl to his voice, before he pulled away and slapped a polite but subdued smile on his face.

She raised an arched eyebrow. "Don't think for a moment I don't know that this is his doing somehow. Some Morningway experiment gone wrong. Just like your mother with her ... dealings. He took my daughter from me. This isn't over."

"Lady, you don't know what you're talking about. So you should shut your mouth before you embarrass yourself." Dean nearly snarled. "You don't want a war with me, Branwen. I only warn once. Grieve your daughter, and leave us alone."

"The council is investigating her death." She stated. "I'm not the one you have to worry about... Get him out of town before he brings you and Harry down with him."

"Magic didn't kill your daughter. But I know what did. And your council can't do shit about it." Dean said. He knew there would be an investigation. Wonderful. "Try not to play the victim too much." Dean said as he walked out and saw Morgan. "Magic didn't kill Jessica, leave my brother alone."

Morgan stared at the elder Winchester. "No. But who summoned the demon that did. I doubt they were interested in Jessica Moore. The Moore family isn't even in the food chain."

"Morgan, you know as well as I do that demons are not all pawns for magicians to play with. The demon might not have been summoned at all." Dean pointed out. "I'm on it, don't tell me to back off. And, dude, don't drag Sam into an investigation. He's already ready to break."

"Your mother was slain by a similar demon. Samuel was an infant at the time. I doubt he summoned it then either. This is more than a coincidence, and you aren't from a purely hunter family. The Morningways have dark secrets you know nothing of. "

"I don't doubt it." Dean said evenly. "However, the only ones that would have known any of those secrets are long dead. Just leave my family alone."

Morgan faded from view. But he wasn't gone. There was something going on and he intended to find out what it was.

Dean made it back to his car, and sat there for a little bit. Just thinking. Then he wiped his eyes and headed over to Harry's. He was human, he cried. He felt pain and grief. But right now, the last thing Sam needed was someone else crying. And it was his job to take care of Sam. Always had been.

"Hey." He said, coming into Harry's apartment. 

"Hey." Harry said in return,

Sam looked up and nodded in acknowledgment. "So what did she have to say?" He asked. Not really sure he needed Dean to tell him. She blamed him, rightly so.

"Usual bull shit. She called a council investigation because she believes magic did it." Dean said with a shrug. "So she'll look like an idiot soon, which suits me just fine."

"Explains why the council has been silent." Sam said, picking up his beer and peeling at the label.

"They'll be nosing around here soon then." Harry stated with a sigh.

"Well, none of us did anything." Dean said. "Let them nose around. They're just wasting their time. But Sam...how do you feel like a road trip?" His brother needed to be distracted.

He shrugged. "Where we going?" He asked. Sam didn't care about much of anything, but if it made Dean feel better to try and make him from better, then Sam would go along for the ride.

"Wyoming." Dean said. Pastor Jim had called and said someone like their father had been there recently, within the last few months. It was a good place to start. "It's away from Branwen at least."

Sam nodded. "Okay. Let's do it " He finished off the beer and tossed the bottle. "Thanks Harry. I'll see you when we get back." He wanted to reassure his cousin who seemed convinced he was going to suicide any moment.

Dean drove back to the mansion to pack. Talking on his cell phone with Donald, getting connections set up. Donald knew what he was REALLY doing, but it would be explained as a leave of absence for a family tragedy, which was close to the truth. He went into his weapons room and started to pack weapons. "Pack light." He called to Sam. "We can hit laundromats."

Sam packed only necessities in one bag. A few changes of clothes, and a second bag he filled with weapons and magical components. He didn't want to go into a potentially dangerous situation as the helpless party. That would put Dean in danger. 


	8. Chapter 8

"Sam! Down!" Dean called out. He'd finally gotten his brother to just drop when he called that, instead of looking around asking why. Sam nearly got his head knocked off his shoulders after that one, so this time, he hit the ground as Dean shot the rock salt at the creature, sending it back toward the wall.

It had been three months since Jessica had died, three months since they discovered their father was alive. Jessica was still dead, and they weren't really any closer to finding their father, seemingly a few months' worth of steps behind him. Best they could tell, he'd been alive four months ago.

Sam had yet to make his peace with this life. The only thing that made it bearable was that it had nothing to do with their other lives. Something he couldn't go back and face. Finding their father had become a driving force. Something that got him out of bed in the morning, and kept him moving until he fell back into bed at night. Jessica was gone, and Sam lived only to find his father and through him what had killed her. He didn't think beyond that. There was no beyond that.

"We gotta find the damned thing's body and burn it." 

"Dude, you think?" Dean said. This was a particularly vengeful and slippery spirit. And it was obnoxious on top of that. He just wanted to get this job over with and try to pick up the trail of their father. Finding their dad was the goal, though Dean didn't know what he was going to say to the man once they were face to face. However it was sugar coated, abandonment was abandonment.

"Maybe she's buried here... in then house some where. " They hadn't been able to find anything in the local cemetery. He hoped it was here in the house, the grounds were immense with no tell tale signs.

"Well, we could torch the whole place." Dean suggested. "It's isolated, no one lives here, no near neighbors. Not a bad idea. Cause it's not like we can go over this place with a fine tooth comb, and I'm not digging up all that land out there."

"Let's do it then." He said and rolled his eyes. "Arson... I'm committing arson." Sam couldn't believe the course his life was taking.

"No complaining or bitching unless you brought marshmallows. Then you get a free pass." Dean said as he went to the Impala and tossed a bag of salt to Sam, opening his own as he set the gas can down to start spreading the salt.

"Remind me to pick up marshmallows at the next store." Sam grumbled and started spreading the salt through the house, dodging the occasional flying object.

"Definitely a female spirit. Probably died in the throes of PMS or something." Dean grumbled as he got hit in the back...hard...with a piece of china.

"Which explains why it flipped out when you arrived, Captain Testosterone." Sam said, grinning a little as he reached for the gas can.

"Oh very funny. Well, one of us has to be manly, right? I mean, you're all fluffy and everything." He teased his brother back as he spread the salt, Sam covering the trail with gasoline. "This place should go up quick. Then, once the fire department puts it out, we'll come back and resalt it. There will be a whole lot less for her to throw by then." 

"So not fluffy." Sam said, closing the gas can. "Let's get it done, cause I need a shower, and a lot of beer to get this taste out of my mouth." Gasoline fumes did lousy things to tastebuds.

Dean took out a box of matches and lit them, dropping them in the center of the room as he and Sam rushed out as the fire flared up the walls and over the floor. They stood there watching for a moment. "Okay. This is done." He said as he headed back to the Impala. "Come on, let's get to the motel. The fire should be seen over the trees soon enough."

Sam nodded and got into the passenger's seat, staring at the flames, watching as they ate the wood of the house, and locked the passenger's door. Not to keep anything out but to give another moment's pause to keeping him inside. Some part of him knew that Jess was waiting in the flames for him. All he had to do to be with her again was step inside.

God he wanted to.

"Dean, let's roll."

Dean drove along the dirt road until he got to a more paved road in silence. "I know." Dean said. "Dude, I really do. Spent a good year trying to piss off Morgan enough to kill me. Preferably by beheading. Now it's just habit."

"It's like I can feel her in the flames, Dean." Sam said. "As if ... if I tried hard enough I could pull her out... seriously starting to understand Bob more. "

"Well, don't understand him too much." Dean said. "One relative under the doom is enough for me, thank you very much. Besides, you know she's not there. In the middle of Iowa? Please, she wouldn't be caught dead or alive here. Too much corn, and she hated corn."

Sam laughed. It was getting easier to fake the laughter. "It's alive you know... fire... breaths, eats, grows...it's alive."

"Now you're just plain creepy." Dean said with a scowl as he pulled into the motel parking lot. "Don't use all the hot water. I'm gonna call Bobby and Pastor Jim, see if they have anything for us."

"Good luck." They wouldn't have anything. They never did. John didn't want to be found. "You know you two have the same birthday... you and Jess..." He said.

Dean frowned. "I know." He said. "It doesn't mean anything. Never has, never will. Millions of people have our birthday."

"Millions of people aren't close to me." Sam said as he went into the bathroom and closed the door. He would have pointed out that Harry and Melissa had the same birthday, but it seemed cruel to bring her up at all.

Dean shook his head as he dialed his cell phone. "Bobby, we've been chasing ciphers for the last three months, and we're not even close. Come on, has he called you yet? If you're telling him you know something on the yellow eyed demon, how can he not call you?"

"If you would check your voice mail you would know the answer to that." Bobby said with a laugh. "He called a few hours ago. I'm headed that way now. Dean... he's in Chicago."

"Chicago?!" Dean said. "What name is he using? Where is he?" He asked and waited for the answers. "We'll be there. Don't tell him." He said as he hung up and pounded on the bathroom door. "Hurry up, we gotta go. I know where he is." He called to Sam over the running water.

Sam heard the tone of Dean's voice rather than the words. "What?" He called out turning off the water briefly, then it filtered through. "Dad? You know where he is? Where?" He asked as he toweled off and gathered his dirty clothes to pack since it sounded like they were going to be on the road again.

Dean was throwing the bags together. "He's in a strip motel in Chicago." Dean said. "I've got the room number and everything. The plan is to beat Bobby there, since he's under the impression that Bobby has information for him." He'd shower later. That could wait, had to wait. Because he had to get to that motel room.

You could feel the tension in the car as the brothers drove back to Chicago. Sam tried not to ask questions Dean would have no answers for, but as they crossed the city limits he could hold back no longer.

"We've prepared ourselves for the worst...but... what if it's not what we think? What if he really did come back for us? And searched for us?" They had accepted that their father hadn't wanted them long ago, but what if they were wrong?

"He was never a stupid man. If he wanted to find us, he could have." Dean said as he stared straight ahead. "Obviously he didn't look that hard. He might have come back, he might have searched, but he didn't do either to his full ability." A large part of him still idolized that man.

"Depends on how much of a smoke screen Justin laid down. He was a powerful man. I've seen his grimoire. It wouldn't be a stretch to say it wasn't possible to find us no matter how hard he looked."

Dean was bordering on petulant at that. His father still should have known, somehow. "Yeah, well, I'm sure he'll tell us himself." Was all he said as he parked in the back of the motel. "Come on, we've done arson, might as well do a little breaking and entering."

"He can't be both you know." Sam said as he steeled himself for the upcoming confrontation. "You can't have him be Superman AND Lex Luthor at the same time."

Dean gave Sam a glare at that as he knocked on the door. No answer. John wasn't there, so Dean picked the lock. His father was definitely staying here, or some hunter like him. Research material and the like were meticulously hung on the walls, piled on tables. They didn't turn on the light, Dean just grabbed a chair and sat against the far wall, waiting. Nerves a jangled tangle of anxiety.

Sam joined him there and waited silently in the dark. He didn't move as the door was unlocked, and the figure at the door entered, checking the line of salt before entering.

John Winchester was a gaunt man, little more than hard muscle and sinew with drawn features. He sensed the others in the room more than saw them and set the dog down, raising up slowly as his hand went to the gun in his waist band "You might want to just come on out. Not in the mood for bull shit games."

"Now that's funny." Dean said as he reached over and turned on the light. "Neither are we. I remember you as bigger. Funny, the memory of an eleven year old, isn't it?" He was waiting for John to make a serious move for the gun. This was his father. He recognized him. The eyes were the same, the shoulders were the same, even if the face was older. A lot older than he expected.

"I don't see anything funny about it. What do you want?" He didn't recognize Dean or Sam. There was nothing to make the connection in his mind. His boys were dead. There was no reason to think that they were sitting here in his hotel room 15 years later.

"Oh I think it's hysterical." Dean said as he got up and reached into his jacket, taking out the one picture he had of himself, his mother and his father. He'd been three at the time, he didn't even remember the picture being taken. "Thought you were dead for fifteen years. Wow, that's more than half my life. Time goes so quick doesn't it?"

John looked at the picture then back at the two young men."That's not possible." He said "My boys are dead, who ever the hell you are, you can get out or do what you came to do and get it over with." He said raggedly as he moved toward the small fridge, pulling out a bottle of his favorite pain killer.

It felt like a rejection to Dean, and it cut him deep as his newly found father turned his back and headed toward the mini fridge. Cut so deep he had to take a breath before he did anything else. "Fine." He said. "Sam, let's go. We've got our answer, he's alive. For whatever it's worth." He needed alcohol himself right now.

"I don't have any answers." Sam said. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Get out!" John roared. "I don't know who you are, but your little charade didn't work. It's not going to work. Get the fuck out."

"Hell no!" Sam yelled back, going to stand toe to toe with the man that had once towered over him. "We didn't have a choice when we were kids, but we do now. I'm not going anywhere." He said. His father had once smelled of gun oil and aftershave. Now he smelled tequila and blood. "Do you hunt like this? What, are you suicidal or something? "

"It doesn't matter." John shot back. "It's never mattered." His wife was gone, his sons were gone, and this was just rubbing salt in a wound he'd almost convinced himself he'd forgotten about. "I said, get out!" He shoved at Sam, and that's all it took for Dean.

Quicker than his father, younger and far more sober (for the moment), he pinned John against the wall. "Don't touch my brother. You lost whatever right you had to that when you walked out. Now we want some answers. On the yellow eyed demon who killed our mother. Who killed his girlfriend. November second. Familiar date? I know I'll never forget it."

"Get off of me." John said, pushing Dean away. "I remember that day. The day my world went up in flames. Is that what you want to hear? You come here to rub salt in old wounds? Mission accomplished. So go back to what ever hell hound conjured you and tell him to show up in person next time."

"You know what? Fuck you." Dean said. "I'll hold your ass down while Sam goes through your research if we have to. You're better off thinking we're dead, fine. But we're not leaving here without some answers. Obviously short of a blood test, we can't convince you."

"If you are my son...where have you been for 15 years? Huh? You wait till now to start looking me up? Dean knew who to call if there was trouble. Wouldn't have stayed off the radar this long."

"We thought you were dead. Uncle Justin took us in and raised us." Sam said.

John shook his head and shoved Dean off of him. "You should do your research before starting a con like this. Morningway couldn't find them any more than I could." 

"Why? Because he said so?" Dean mocked. "And why would I call any of your friends when you ditched us with strangers and walked right out the door? What makes you think I would trust any of them after that? Fine." He said and backed off John, throwing off his jacket and peeling off his shirt. "This." He said, pointing to a thin jagged scar on his side. "Poltergeist gone wacko. You told the school I was in at the time, I think it was in Wisconsin, that I was climbing up to get something off the top of the fridge and fell off the stool." He lifted his right elbow. "Fell down the stairs at our home in Kansas. Mom put a band-aid on it, then drew Yoda on it, well, it was supposed to be Yoda at any rate."

John stumbled back against the wall and sank to the floor. "Alive?" He said looking between his sons in absolute shock. He couldn't have been more awestruck if Christ himself had appeared before him. Tears welled in his eyes but remained unshed along with millions of others that had come before. "Here all this time?"

Dean pulled his shirt and his jacket back on as he watched John. "Yeah. We were told you were dead, on a hunt. Had the car to prove it too. So we were here in Chicago." He said. "Are we done threatening to beat the shit out of each other now?" 

John nodded. "I...I was about a hair's breadth from actually being dead on that hunt. Was comatose for days..." He absently reached down to stroke the ears of the dog that licked at his face."When I came to, the car was gone, and so were you." He rubbed his hands over his face. "Morningway said that there wasn't enough to track you with, and he had you all along." He forced himself to his feet and stumbled a little toward the chair. The fight was gone out of him, and the injuries sustained fighting the shadows and Meg were beginning to take their toll.

"Yeah he did." Dean said. "He's dead now. I was looking for the demon that killed you, along with the one that killed Mom, but turned out a demon didn't kill you." And he was irrationally mad at that. That he had wasted time he could have spent looking for his mother's murderer looking for another murderer that didn't exist, because no murder had been committed.

"Sorry to have disappointed you." John said and took a seat, reaching for the first aid kit. "I'm no closer to it than I was last time we spoke." His sons hated him. Why not make it a unanimous decision? Let's all hate John Winchester.

"It..." Sam swallowed. "It killed Jessica...my girlfriend. On November 2nd." He moved to sit across the table from his father. "I have to find it... this thing... it's killing people because of me. I have to stop it."

"Sam..." Dean said, shaking his head.

"I don't think it's because of you." John said. Or not only because of you, he added silently. "There have been other nursery fires that I've found. Completely unrelated to you." He couldn't have Sam have that guilt, if it was one thing he could do right as a father, that would be what he would do as he watched his oldest son take the first aid kit and rifle through it. "I'm fine." He said.

"Yeah, okay." Dean said. "Shut up and sit still."

John glared at his oldest son. "I'll take care of it."

"Stop it!" Sam said. "I don't have time for you two to figure out whose is bigger, just let Dean patch you up, or we'll take you to a hospital to detox."

That shut John up. But his posture was anything but relaxed as his first born stitched up a wound on his back, while his youngest stared at him with a penetrating gaze. He noticed, however, that Dean's hands were practiced and steady as he stitched. "Go to med school?" He asked.

"Nope." Dean said as he tied off another knot. "Just used to doing it on myself. Sam was headed toward law school though."

"Yeah he has this phobia of doctors I think." Sam said. "I think he's afraid of hearing that he isn't fine no matter how often he repeats it. It's not like we can't afford it anymore."

"Your mother's family was pretty flush." John said. Mary had wanted nothing to do with her family. Hadn't wanted her sons to be Morningways. Now they were. Just another way he had failed her. "Law school, huh? Impressive."

"Just finished pre-law. Taking a break to deal with Jessica's death." Sam told him. "Dean's running the company now, has been since Uncle Justin died."

"Yeah, something about seeing the love of your life burning on the ceiling in front of you makes Winchester want to hit the road." Dean said with a shrug as he covered the stitches with a bandage and grabbed a beer from the mini fridge. "And go demon hunting."

John looked at Dean. He remembered their nearly physical altercation from only a few minutes before. And he was putting odds on his son being able to wipe the floor with him, even if he was completely sober. One son going to be a lawyer, another the CEO of a massive company. And what had John left them as a legacy? A nomadic existence hunting demons. Yeah, that was great.

"Dean..." Sam admonished. "Besides, it beats the alternative."

John sighed. "I wish I had more information for you. I've figured out the signs of activity but it always leaves me several steps behind him."

Dean made a face at his brother at the admonishment as he cracked the beer open. "It's further than we are. But mainly we've been looking for you. Didn't know if you had died after that or not. Bobby and Pastor Jim weren't very helpful either, something about the Winchester charm just pissed them right off." He'd done pretty much the same to business associates. Maybe it was genetic.

"Bobby will get over it. He usually does. Just gotta give him a few months to cool off." John said with a faint smile. He and Bobby Singer had an unusual friendship to say the least. "You boys should leave it to me. Go back to those lives you have and leave the demons alone."

"Oh, you mean the life in which a demon immolated our mother, and then Sam's girlfriend?" Dean said, shaking his head. "Why didn't you go back to being a mechanic after Mom died? Huh? If it's that easy? I'm good at what I do."

"I'm sure you are son, but..." John sighed. "Don't follow in my footsteps. You've been free of it most of your childhood. Keep it that way."  
"It's following me." Sam insisted.

"Face it, we're in this." Dean said firmly. "Whether you like it or not, whether you help us or not, we're following this demon. Hope to get a jump on it before it strikes us again, but if not, we'll handle it as it comes. Sam's got a point...two women, Mom and Jessica, burned above him? Can't be a coincidence."

John scowled. An expression Dean hadn't seen since that night so long ago in the hotel room. "Fine. But I don't care how tough you are... you're still green. I know Morningway didn't teach you to hunt." He growled a little and reached for the tequila. "Either of you get your mother's gift?"

Dean glanced at Sam. "Yeah, one of us did." He admitted. Wouldn't stay secret for long. All their father would have to do is pass Sam something hi tech and that was it. "And I've been doing this for ten years. Think I'm past the green part."

"Weekends and holidays." John said. Dean was probably better than most he could work with, maybe even some of the better ones out there, and the boy might be tough as nails, but compared to John he was still green. "And Sam... betting he hasn't even got that under his belt. Which means he's the one with the magic. Of all the things your mother could have passed on to you, that's the one she wanted to avoid."

Dean shook his head. "Okay, we need some freaking ground rules. One, you stop talking to us like we're still eleven and seven. Because we're not. We're grown men with grown up lives. You have no idea what our lives were like for those fifteen years because you haven't bothered to ask. Too busy slamming Uncle Justin and drinking. Fine, you want to slam him, that's your right. But do it silently, because it's bad karma to speak ill of the dead. Especially dead that's still whole in his plot."

"You let them bury him?" John asked "Do either of you have any idea what could happen with someone like that left whole?" He shook his head. "You come in here acting like butter wouldn't melt in your mouth boy, well you can stow that attitude. This isn't a board room, and you don't own me. You made it plain from the beginning that you weren't looking for your father, you were looking for a hunter with information." He got to his feet. "Now you're bitching 'cause that's what you've got? You wanna tell me again how grown up you are? Better yet, start showing me and make up your mind what it is you're looking for cause... this is killing me." 

Dean stood up also. "First off, we tried. But you know what? He was against it, like a lot of people on the Council. So his body is under the protection of them. You want to go piss them off, go right ahead, I'll tell you where he's buried. Guaranteed you won't get within twenty feet of the grave." Dean shot back. "I did come looking for my father. But he doesn't want to be found after all, so I'm stuck with a hunter who's not giving me any information, but instead is trying to treat us like the kids he left behind. You want to talk about checking an attitude? Check yours, pops, because almost seems like you're blaming US for this. Or better yet, you're blaming me. Because I was eleven, fucking eleven years old and I should have damned well known better, right? Let's go all the way back to the shtriga while we're at it. It's what started the whole mess, because I'm just a big fat failure in everything I do because I'm not you!"

"Is that what you think?" John asked, staring at Dean in confusion. "I left you boys alone, and you were nearly killed. I lost my temper because I was afraid and I have regretted it ever since but... Dean... I left you there to keep you safe while I finished it off. It would have kept after you and Sammy. I couldn't leave you alone until it was done. You were gone before I could make it back." He shook his head. "Morningway looked me up two years later to rub it in that I couldn't protect you. That it was my fault you and Mary were dead. So don't expect one ounce of respect for that son of a bitch from me. You boys were all I had left in the world."

"What the hell was I supposed to think? I messed up once...once! And next thing I know we're being dragged to some creepy stranger's house, you get in the car and drive away. Because I for once decided to act like a goddamn kid instead of Daddy's little soldier." Dean said. "Oh, and I got the son of a bitch nine years ago." He said about the shtriga. It was closure for him, in a way, that he'd finally been able to put the creature down, like he should have when he was eleven. Because if he had, his family wouldn't have been torn apart. But at least now it couldn't tear apart any other families.

"I never intended it to be longer than a few days. I just...couldn't find the words to get through to you. What you did was normal... but over reacting on my part was pretty normal too. I should have stayed long enough to smooth things over between us. Maybe then I would have seen something was off with those two. I've regretted that every day since."

"Well, that's good. Course doesn't change the fact that you chose the goddamned hunt over your kids." Dean said and shook his head. He looked at Sam, who was staring at the floor, shoulders tense. He sighed in frustration and shook his head. This was not how it had played out in his head, when he'd dared to hope it might play out at all. 

"Nothing I say is going to change the past. Nothing I say is going to make me any less the villain in your eyes." John said. "Research is yours if you want it." He said grabbing his spare jacket, one without blood stains and headed for the door. "If that's all you came for, have at."

"Dad..." Sam said quietly. "Don't."

John stopped midstride. In contrast to his eldest's accusations, glares and shouts, his youngest's voice was quiet. Nearly meek. Like the little boy he remembered who would rarely speak without looking to Dean first. He swallowed past a lump in his throat. "What do you want me to say, Sammy? I've apologized. That's all I can do."

Dean concentrated on drinking his beer. Because he still had things he could say to antagonize the situation. But Sam...Dean realized as he sat down by his brother...Sam probably couldn't take much more.

"I don't know..." He said honestly. "I just... I can't lose anyone else right now. And if you walk out that door..." Then he would have to choose, and there was never a choice for Sam, not really. It always had been, always would be Dean.

John tossed his jacket across a chair, and sat down in another one. His sons. The last pieces of Mary, of that incredibly special and precious time of his life, were sitting in front of him. Grown men now. But he could see bits and pieces of Mary in them. Dean...Dean had her coloring. His hair was darker than his mother's, but far lighter than John's. Her green eyes that every emotion she had would dance across, even if they were spitting fire at him right now. Her tendency to freckle. Sam...Sam had her mouth. And apparently the inherent gift to diffuse a situation with just a soft word. They were grown men now, Dean had just turned twenty seven. Sam was coming up on his twenty third birthday. They were strangers, and they were his sons.

"I'm not walking out." He said, and thought he heard a muffled snort from Dean on that comment.

Sam looked at his brother, without saying a word, just looked at him, silently asking him to try. This was their father. The man that Dean had idolized for his entire life. The man Dean desperately wanted to love him in return.

"Do you hate me that much, son?" John asked Dean quietly, wanting to know the truth of the situation before they were all torn apart. 

Dean looked up at that. No, I don't hate you. How could I? From the moment I watched your back walk out the door until the moment we broke into this motel room, I have done everything possible to make you proud of me. Everything I thought you wanted me to do, you wanted me to be. I watched over Sammy. I learned the hunt. I've seriously tested the limits of my body and sanity to be the best I can be in what you held important. Strength. Courage. Never backing down. Going after the creatures that destroyed us. I got the shtriga, not even a 'good job' glance from you. Looking for the demon that took Mom. And in the end, looks like I let you down anyway, because I'm still the eleven year old that funked up in your eyes.

That's what he thought anyway.

"No sir." Was what he said.

John visibly relaxed. It was almost as though someone had cut his strings. He looked at his boys with genuine emotion in his dark eyes. "God I have missed you both." He said running a trembling hand through his dark hair. He had been afraid to let his guard down. The anger in his eldest son's eyes had cut him in ways nothing else could. "I know with how things turned out, you have no reason to believe that."

Dean met his father's eyes for a moment, until the dog at John's feet growled. His eyes cut to the dog, the dog wasn't growling at any human in the room. So he slowly stood up and started to look around. "Where were you?" Dean asked. "I don't mean for the past fifteen years, I mean for the past three hours."

"Having it out with a demon going by the name of Meg... she was summoning shadow spirits... degas... and using them to kill." He said looking around the room as well.

"Shadow spirits, huh?" Sam said watching as the shadows darkened. "The word trap ring any bells?"

"Sam..." Dean said, moving between the encroaching shadows and his brother. "If memory serves, and our old man hasn't slipped...should be some flares in the bag under the bed." He said carefully. "Shadow spirits. You sure know how to make friends, Dad."

"Yeah well... I have that effect on people." John said as Sam made a dive for the flares.

The shadows began to move and almost take shape. He watched them as they moved, and seemed to follow Sam's every move. He dove between them and his youngest boy, only to get batted aside like a leaf in the wind, his chest laid open by unseen claws.

Dean took up the mantle after John went down. He couldn't think about John right now, he had to protect Sam. Then he'd protect his dad. Those were his priorities, and they were priorities he was sure John wouldn't argue with. The shadow spirits reminded him of men his uncle had hired to train him. He'd be blindfolded and attacked. And have to fight his way out of a scenario where he couldn't quite see, and they were moving too fast for him.

So he closed his eyes. If they could connect with John, he could connect with them. Keeping an ear out for his brother, ducking, jumping back, lashing out. Buying time until the flares were lit.

Sam could feel the claws connect with his skin, and knew that he was receiving a lesser blow due to his brother's intervention, which only served to make him work faster. "Cover your eyes!" He shouted as he held up the flare and lit it.

Dean's eyes were closed, but he squeezed them tighter as he saw the flash of red against his lids. He brought an arm up to further shield them. "Dad?" He called out. "How're you doing?" He saw the slash the older man had taken.

"I'm fine, son. Sam, sound off." He called out, reaching out and grabbing his dog with one hand and feeling for one of his sons with the other.

"I'm good. Lets get out of here." Sam responded, reaching for Dean. 

Dean grabbed hold of Sam's wrist, then found his father, still flash blinded from the flare. "Dad, you're bleeding." He said, feeling the sticky wet feel of blood. "Come on, let's get you out of here and patch you up."

"I'll be alright." He said as they felt their way out of the room and out into the parking lot. He kept moving, in spite of the pain in his chest, in spite the wooziness. 

Dean and Sam managed to get their father into the backseat of the Impala, John was in no condition to drive. The dog hopped in behind him and Dean looked at Sam. "Stay in the back and put some pressure on him." He said as he got into the front seat and headed toward the mansion.

Sam did as he was told. "Dean... those things were coming for me." He said. "And don't tell me I'm being paranoid. The only reason you and Dad were hurt was you got in the way."

"I'm not hurt." Dean said with a shrug. "And sure, you could see it that way, except of course for the fact that Dad was battling them before he even knew we were alive." Dean pointed out. "Look, no thoughts like that without a little more proof, that's what I'm saying." 

"Sam... it's easy to get caught up in that... with everything you've been through, sometimes...sometimes it really is random." John said, and winced a little at the pressure on the wound. "Easy there tiger, I like my ribs in one piece."

"That's overrated. Intact body parts." Dean said as he pulled into the garage at the mansion and parked the car. "We'll go back for your truck later." He said as he opened the back door and helped his father out. "Let's go see what I have to stitch up now. Hope the ones on your back are at least in tact, because that was some fine work."

John laughed. "It ought to be... you started doing it young enough." Not that it was a thing to be proud of, that he had put his son in that position, but he couldn't help but be proud of the fact that he was still at it. They were strangers, he knew nothing of what their life had been, but they were still his boys. They still carried what little he had been able to impart around with them after all this time.

Dean laughed as he helped his father into the house. "See, Sammy thinks I don't go to the ER over some irrational fear of doctors and such. Me? I know it's because I stitch better than any overworked doc they got slumming there. So why bother?"

"It's not the stitches I worry about." Sam said. "It's the internal injuries and the blood loss."

"Blood comes back on its own in time." John said, his words beginning to slur, and his steps were more awkward, clumsy.

They managed to get him into a guest room and Dean left Sam to get their dad's jacket and shirt off as he went for his specialized first aid kit. He came back in and shook his head. "Gotta say, stitching up my dad, not exactly the flashback I needed." He said as he started cleaning the slashes across his father's chest. "Some of these look deep, but I don't see any internal organs."

"There are a few here that are newly stitched up too. Looks like the last couple jobs have been pretty rough. I think that's why he is going down so fast." Sam said, getting their father out of his blood soaked clothing. "A lot of little wounds can add up... especially if something gets infected."

"Especially if you're a heavy drinker." Dean said as he worked on stitching up the ones he could. "I'm gonna have to reopen some of them. Dammit. We should take him to a hospital."

"No... no hospital." John mumbled, the word hospital filtering through the haze.

Dean frowned. "Fine." Dean said as he finished stitching and worked on opening a few of the others to drain. "Well, looks like he's stuck with us for a bit, huh? He can't travel like this."

Sam nodded. "Well... not like we don't have the space." He said with a bit of a laugh. "And we wanted to get to know him anyway." Well, he did. He didn't know if Dean really wanted it or not.

Dean was still undecided on that part. Because the man in front of him might not match the man he'd carried around in his head. He wasn't sure he was ready for that. But he opened up a few of the older wounds and packed them with saline soaked gauze. "Dated a trauma surgeon for exactly two weeks. Among other things, I pumped her brain for knowledge on how to treat various wounds if you were stuck in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of supplies. She thought I was messed up." He said with a laugh. "But at least she answered."

"Then got tired of the questions and dumped you for a guy with fewer issues?" Sam asked, shaking his head.

John's dog jumped up on the bed, and lay at his feet whining softly, worried about his human companion, pawing at his leg to get a response.

"Dude, I don't have issues." Dean said. "Except of course that Max is going to kill me. I leave her for two hours and come back with another dog." He'd done what he could for the wounds, now he rifled through for some antibiotics.

"You cannot be saying that with a straight face." Sam said as he reached out to scratch the mutt behind the ears. "And I swear that dog is like your girlfriend or something. Does your car know you are cheating on her?"

Dean gave his brother a look. "Max is not my girlfriend. The car is not my girlfriend. However, if I piss either of them off, I'm left with no shoes and no reliable transportation. You should remember that, your shoes are now vulnerable." He looked at John. "Well, he seems to be out, which is good." He drew up a vial of antibiotics and jammed the needle into his father's thigh, injecting it. "That should cover him until he can take the pills. Course, his leg might hurt worse than everything else when he comes to, so it's in his best interest to take the pills."

Sam shook his head. "And you enjoyed that... You so seriously have issues." Whether he wanted to admit it or not "Let's put some food and water in here and close the door for the night. Give you time to make up with your girl before introducing her to Dad's best friend."

"I did not enjoy stabbing my father with a needle." Dean said, making a face as he and Sam went out to the kitchen to get some things together for the dog. He washed out Max's travel bowls and filled them up. "You were the one always on me to make connections and shit. You never said they had to be with humans." He said with a smirk. But, outside of family, Max and the Impala wouldn't sell him out, let him down, or otherwise betray him. So it was a good compromise in his mind.

Max started to prance excitedly once the travel bowls came out. They were leaving again. Or at least that was what she thought until he started filling them up, then she stopped, tilted her head to one side and barked, as if asking if he were nuts.

"Come on, Max. I had to share once too. You can share now." Dean said. "We'll get him his own bowls, I'm sure Dad has some in his car and all. Just relax." Oh Max was spoiled all right. No woman would ever be this spoiled by any man ever. Of that Dean was positively sure of. Which meant after he got his dad all settled, and his dog, it was going to have to be Max Time.

Max snorted, shaking her little head.

Sam laughed. He couldn't help it. "Dude, how do you find time to get laid with Max here defending her territory."

"Easy. I rarely bring them home." Dean said. "I float on over to their places instead. Come on, let's go feed them and then see where we stand." Where they stood because their father was there, alive, and there. He was there. Dean was still wrapping his head around that one.

Sam led the way and opened the door for them. John still lay unmoving on the bed. Even in sleep he looked haggard and drawn. A man whose constant companion was grief and pain. And a mutt that looked more retriever than not, even if more the size of a cocker spaniel.

The dog was nestled in against John's side, his head resting on the man's chest, lifting once as the door opened, then laying back down seeing it was the brothers returning.

Max jumped onto the large bed and took in the scene, unsure what to make of this latest turn of events. These strangers in her home. They were at a quiet sort of stand off until Max placed a paw on John's leg while sniffing the man who smelled a little like her Dean and his Sam. Then this interloper, this stranger had the audacity to bristle at her. HER in her own home.

"Ooh boy. You don't want to mess with Max, just telling you." Dean said as he set the food and water on the floor. "She'll wipe the floor with you, then bark you out for making her make a mess." Then he looked at Max. "Max, down."

As soon as Max moved her paw off of John, the other dog relaxed, once more laying his head on John's chest. He didn't care who she was, she wasn't going to touch his human.

Max gave the interloper a look, then looked up at Dean as if he had just betrayed her, telling her to get down. Eyes large and bulging slightly in accusation. Once more she snorted, and turned her back on Dean pointedly before obeying and jumping to the floor.

"Uh oh." Sam said. "Looks like the honey moon is over." He teased. "Remind me to stick to cats when I go looking for a pet."

"Cats are worse." Dean said with a chuckle. "She'll be fine. She'll forgive me, she always does. So how long should we let him sleep before we start waking him up and stuff?" Unconsciousness always worried him, because he didn't know what was going on.

"Didn't see a head injury. Let's give him a couple of hours to sleep it off. Give us time to ... I don't know...order in pizza and hide the booze. He looks like he's been through hell." Sam said. No one should look that ragged when they slept. That's when the body and mind got to let go, but John didn't look like he had let go of anything. 

"I didn't expect him to look so...old." Dean said quietly as they left the room, shutting the door behind them. "Let's get some pizza and wings, I gotta make it up to Max anyway. You want me to get a girlfriend? Like I need Max's fits in human form."

Sam laughed a little at that. "I don't know... we both have an understanding of what it's like to love the woman you love." Sam couldn't imagine if it had happened years later, when they had grown even closer, had children to bond them. "Add losing children to it...with nothing to divert you from the hunt? I'm surprised he doesn't look 102."

"Okay, you've got a point." He said as he told the cook (who was kept around basically for nostalgia. Dean couldn't bear to fire her, even if he rarely used her) that they were ordering out and then he ordered the pizza and wings. "It's weird though, I didn't actually think we'd find him. That he'd be like the demon, out there, but I couldn't find him."

"I know." Sam had thought it was a little too easy himself. Finding him locally was even stranger still. But then Sam still thought that Deva had been coming straight for him. "Now we just have to get used to having him."

"Do we?" Dean asked pointedly as he paid for the pizza and wings. The brothers settled in the expansive living room. "I mean, he might just heal up and...leave. This could just be a lay over for him or something. Hi sons, glad you're alive, nice to see ya, gotta go."

"Well, I think it's gonna be if you keep giving him attitude." Sam said. "Not saying you don't have a right to, but dude, would you stick around for it?"

"Well, I'm glad we both agree that I have a right to have whatever attitude I want." Dean said with a scowl as he sat on the floor and dug some wings out of the box, carefully separating them from the bone and setting the meat on a plate for when Max deigned to tolerate his presence for a bit. "Look, fine, I'll try to, you know, whatever. I just don't really think he has the right to dictate how we behave or react anymore." Fact of the matter is, John still left. Whether it was temporary or not was a moot point right now. In Dean's mind, he still left.

"Dude, even if he had stuck around all our lives he wouldn't be able to dictate to us anymore. We're both over 21." He said with a grin. "Just... today wasn't exactly the best set up for a happy reunion ya know."

"Knew you were the college boy of the family for a reason." Dean said with a chuckle. "Look, I'll try not to snap at him, or read too much into every statement, or jump all over his back for every little thing, okay?"

"Okay." Sam said with a nod. "For what it's worth... I think he did and does love us. He made a damned foolish mistake, but he came back for us... even if it was too late, he still came back."

So he says, Dean thought. But he looked at his brother. "You positive it's him?" Dean said. "I mean, come on. I've heard glamouring is a simple enough spell to do. Just take a photo of him, imagine what he looks like at the right age with a hard life and a drinking problem, and there ya go."

"Are you sure you really wanted to find him?" Sam asked with a frown. This could go so many kinds of bad. They could all wind up with new and interesting emotional scars from this. Sam didn't think Dean or John could take too many more.

"Dude, this was my idea. I just want to be sure." Dean said as Max walked in as if she were the owner of the estate, gave Dean a look that said he MIGHT be forgiven, and started eating the wings he had carefully prepared for her. He scratched behind his dog's ear as he looked at his brother. "I just don't want this to be a trick is all."

"I know... and I'll check to make sure it's not a glamour when we go back in there. It really does seem too easy after all this time that he would appear in Chicago of all places."

"Exactly. Thank you for hopping aboard my train of thought." Dean said. "I'm not used to being the rational one you know. I don't know, we'll see." He had a lot of stuff in his head to go through if this was in fact John. Maybe a little part of him didn't want John to be John, because he didn't want to go through all that.

"The irony being you aren't being the rational one... you simply have a rational reasoning for an emotionally charged situation scaring the hell out of you."

"Dude, I'm not scared." Dean scoffed, and Max even growled at that idea. "See, Max agrees. And we all know she's the smartest one in this house, aren't you Maxie?" He said, scratching under her chin until Max decided she wanted the chicken more. "So we'll see when he wakes up."

Sam nodded. Dean wasn't as good at hiding his emotions as he thought, but Sam knew when he was beating a dead horse. "Well... at least he was miserable without us, right? I know that's supposedly immature and all but who honestly wants someone to walk away and be better off for it?"

"I know. I actually hoped he was miserable. Regretting every little step he took, but I've never been praised for my maturity, so I thought it was me." Dean admitted. "Felt bad about that once we learned he died, but it would come and go. Hoping he suffered and then regretting I thought that. Jeez, if Uncle Justin had ever sent me to a therapist, they coulda made a mint off me just on that one little thing."

Sam snorted. "You and I both have more issues than Time Life." He said. "But we deal...in our own twisted way. Should we call Harry?"

Dean laughed. "Yeah, our other relative with some major issues." Dean said as he reached for the phone and dialed up Harry. "Hey, we're back. We found him."

"Not that I'm not glad to have you back, but damn that was quick. You would think after 15 years he would be a bit harder to find. How did it go?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought. And think. I don't know, rough. Sam says I have an attitude problem. But we got attacked by degas, and now he's passed out in one of the guest rooms. Talk about flashback to childhood, had to stitch him up." Dean said.

"You two okay? Want a little back up?" Harry asked. He was worried about them. This couldn't be easy at all. Not for any of the Winchesters involved.

"Maybe you could come over and decide once and for all if it's a glamour?" Dean suggested. Sam was too close to decide. He knew his brother badly wanted that man to be their father.

"Yeah, not a problem. I'll come on over just got the blue beetle out of the shop." Harry said. "I'll bring beer."

"Awesome." Dean said. "Door's unlocked, so come right in." He said. "I told Marlo," the cook, "to make the detox breakfast she specializes in." Or at least learned to specialize in when Dean would come home hurt and drunk!

"Your dad needs to detox?" He asked. "Well, I guess it's to be expected. I'll be there in a few and we'll make sure he is who he appears to be but gotta tell ya, a little paranoia is a good thing right about now."

"That's what I told Sammy." Dean said, giving his brother a look. At least Harry agreed with him. Well, with part of it anyway. Had to count for something.

Sam rolled his eyes. "I'm gonna go check on Dad." He said getting to his feet. "Don't worry, Max, I won't let the other dog out yet." Although they would have to eventually or the house keeping staff would kill them.

Max responded by rolling on her back, an invitation...no, a demand, for Dean to scratch her stomach. Which he did while Sam left. Until Dean knew for sure if that man was their father, it was better for him to keep his distance. It had nearly come to blows once already.

John was sleeping restlessly, his dog keeping watch at the foot of the bed. Tossing slightly, hands clenching, unclenching. He kept replaying in his head what had transpired in the hotel room. Except his sons were still children. And the degas took them. Into the shadows and John could do nothing but watch. It replayed over and over, with little changes, but always the same outcome.

Sam entered the room and sat down on the bed beside his father. "Dad...Dad wake up." He knew what nightmares were like, especially the ones you can't wake up from. 

It took several minutes for Sam to pull John out of his own nightmares. He woke up not with a start, he just opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times. He was used to falling asleep and waking up, not quite sure where he was. All the motels just blended together after awhile, into one big room, indistinguishable from all the rest. But first waking up, all the differences would scream at him. This room was far too big, far too clean and far too bright to be a motel, even if it were dark from the night with only a low lamp illuminating anything at all.

Then he remembered. Remembered where he was, who he was with, what had happened.

"I'm awake." He said to his youngest son. He still didn't quite believe it.

"You were... having a nightmare... well... you probably knew that, huh?" Sam said, feeling like an idiot for pointing out the obvious."That happen a lot?" Another stupid question, but Sam was full of stupid questions. Questions that were only stupid because no son should have to ask his father those questions.

"Yeah." John said with an exhale as he ran his hands through his dark hair, flecked with silver, and unruly as his youngest son's tended to get. He sat up, grimacing a little at the movement, but did it anyway. Pain was nothing new to him, any and all pain actually. But nothing was broken, and he could breathe, so that was a start. "I'm okay. I am, Sam. Sam...I can't believe it. Guess it would be dumb if I told you you grew." Taller than him now.

Sam laughed softly. "No dumber than me pointing out your nightmares." He smiled a little. "But... before we go any further... I have to know one thing... were you- were you going to come back for us?"

"I did." John said. "I went back, and the house was cleaned out. Like no one had ever lived there. I hunted down every lead I could think of, then Erin and Tom turned up dead a few months later. I just never thought Justin of all people would have taken you two. I didn't know he knew where you were."

"He never talked about how he knew... we just...never asked. Too young to think of those questions. Look, Dean... Dean always worshiped you. You were like Superman, Batman and Captain Marvel all rolled into one." Sam began. He didn't know where things were going to go with this reunion, but his dad needed to know a few things straight up. "He bent over backwards trying to please you, trying to make you proud. And then you just... left us."

John sighed. "I shouldn't have put Dean in that position." He said honestly. But he was learning as he went, back then. And most of the time, he made mistakes. Because there was no manual for it. "Maybe you two were better off without me. Though your mother left all this behind for a reason." To know now that Justin had taunted him, rubbed salt in gaping wounds...and he had had John's boys the entire time...John was glad Justin was dead. It took the option of doing something stupid like killing him out of John's hands.

"Don't ever say that in front my brother." Sam said firmly. "We needed YOU, not all of this." He told him. "We settled in, we were happy. He was good to us, don't get me wrong, we loved him. Still do even after knowing this... knowing that he killed Harry's father." He ran his hand through his hair. "And we still love you. But Dean... he comes off all tough and hard but he isn't. Not inside. He's been through a lot lately. "

"Sounds like you haven't had an easy time of it either." John said, looking at his son. He wondered who Harry was, and why Justin had killed his father, but it probably wasn't important. "Your brother's always been that way. Since he was a kid." Since even before his mother died, Dean couldn't be stopped. Always moving, didn't matter if he were sick or hurt, he kept going. The smart mouth was new. The anger was new. But the toughness, that had always been there, as a mask. Even if then he didn't use it the way he did now. "He gets it from me." John said, looking at his hands. It wasn't a good thing to pass onto your children, not really. It pushed people away, even your own children.

"Yeah well, keep that in mind when he starts pushing you away." Sam said. "And if you want any sort of relationship with him... don't go. If you do... there won't be another chance." Sam knew Dean wouldn't let his father in again if there was even a hint of a chance that the man would hurt him again.

"Lots of warnings on how to deal with Dean. I guess when I talk to Dean I'll get the same thing about you, won't I?" John said. Sam seemed the be the authority on Dean. He figured Dean would be the authority on Sam. They'd been close, even as boys. Of course, it was a closeness that he had forced with his absence and the constant moving, but he couldn't help but be glad for them that it had continued.

"Probably. But I'm not as fragile as he thinks." Sam pointed out. "I just need you to be straight with me...I don't need to make up for lost time. I just need there to be a future."

"I've been straight with you." John said, feeling himself almost backed into a defensive position again. "I thought you two were dead. After Erin and Tom turned up, well, parts of them turned up, I thought they had you. And some creature got you two. Just another example of how I couldn't protect you two. That's what I've been living with. Everyone I loved I let down, and they paid for it." 

"Why did the demon come for Jess and Mom?" Sam asked, the wall coming down for a moment and the torment inside revealing itself. The guilt, the grief, but it disappeared as fast as it had come.

John looked at his youngest son with dark, mournful eyes. "I don't know. Not yet." John said. "There have been other nursery fires...where the mother died like Mary did. Other things adding up, I just don't know what they add up to. Not yet." He lied. He didn't know for sure. But he had a good idea. But dammit, he couldn't burden Sam with all that. It wasn't fair, it wasn't really Sam's fault.

"23 years and...nothing?" Sam asked. It didn't seem right.. or maybe it was that it didn't seem fair. All those years wasted searching for answers that weren't there to be found. Maybe that was the reason their father looked so haggard.

"I've come close." John said. "Once or twice. Learned the signs, but I've always been one step behind. Electrical storms, crop circles...I arrived in Palo Alto when the fire was still hot. But there was another storm outside Las Vegas." John sighed. "I didn't know you were there." He'd thought Sam was dead after all.

"We had just gotten back from seeing Pastor Jim. Looking for you...we found out you were alive and he was the one we had the most knowledge of." Sam explained. He told his father the rest of what had happened, the words were ragged, barely audible.

John listened, and wished he had a drink right then. It was Mary all over again. Right down to being held by an unforeseen force over Sam. "I'm sorry son." Was all John could say.

Dean was waiting for Harry, and opened the door for him. "You'll be able to tell if it's a glamour, right? There won't be any ifs, ands or buts about it, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. Dean are you alright?" Harry asked as he stepped inside. "You don't look like you're doing alright."

"Dude, I'm fine. Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Dean said as he closed the door. "I just want to know for sure before I have to listen to another lecture from Sam about my bedside manner is all."

"Gee, I don't know Dean, may be that whole finding the father that abandoned you at 11 seems a potentially traumatic experience to those of us with human emotions." Harry said shaking his head.

"Well, there's no sense getting all upset about it if it's not even him, right?" Dean pointed out as he led the way through the house toward where John was resting. Or being cross examined by his brother, one of the two. "Sure, I could go all whack job on everyone, but then it would be pretty senseless if it's all a trick anyway, right?"

"You can't tell me you have it all compartmentalized so clearly as all of that." Harry said. "That's almost scarier than a melt down, you know that right?"

"You worry too much. If it's him, I'll probably blow. If it's not, I'll probably blow. Right now, I'm in limbo, so nothing's getting broken. Tell ya what, you can have a front row seat for when I get violent. Promise." Dean said with a smirk.

Harry opened the door letting it drop for the time being. There would be time later to get into the ramifications of it all with his young cousins. He looked on the scene within and hoped that this really was their father because it looked like a ragged bonding moment was going on in there and Sam didn't need another loss.

John went on guard immediately when he saw Harry. He didn't know Harry, and he was in no position to defend himself right now.

"This is Harry, he's our cousin." Dean said, reading correctly his father's eyes.

"Mom's sister was his mom." Sam explained. "He's on our side." Not sure that Harry qualified as one of the good guys anymore.

Johns dog bristled and growled lowly. "Butch, that's enough." John said and the dog settled down uneasily.

"Hey." Harry said stepping in closer and extending his hand. "Sorry for the interruption, nice to meet you." He said looking the man over as they shook hands.

"Harry's a worrier." Dean said. "If he doesn't talk to me at least once a day, he's wondering what jail he's going to have to bail me out of next." He said. And it wasn't quite a lie at that! Just usually Dean bailed himself out and Justin drove him home.

"Yeah, you would think the CEO of a major corporation wouldn't need to be bailed out of jail on a regular basis. Thankfully it's usually under an assumed name." Sam said.

"So, in the interest of keeping things open and honest here... It's a bit odd that the father who ... disappeared," Harry opted for a polite word, "15 years ago is discovered in our back yard three months after they discover you are alive...and you all get attacked right away. So me being the over protective loving cousin that I am... decided to come over and make sure you are really you and that there isn't some sort of mojo going on."

Sam groaned and rolled his eyes.

Dean had an innocent look on his face as he nodded and John sighed.

"Feeling the trust here." John said.

"Don't blame us, you were the one who drilled it into our heads, especially mine, not to trust anyone." Dean reminded him.

"Yeah." John grumbled. "So, what do you need me to do?"

"Well the easy part, I need a hair from you, and for you not to freak out cause Bob's a family friend and you really don't want to piss me off." Harry said as he set Bob's skull down on the bed side table, and reached over to pluck one of John's hairs. "Easiest most fool proof way." Harry said to the brothers with a shrug and set the hair down beside the skull. "Okay Bob, come on out."

"What the hell?" John demanded.

"Unfortunately, though it often seems that way, this is not hell." Bob said as he came out of the skull to stand before the cousins. He looked at John, then at Dean and Sam. "You did find him after all."

"Well, that's what you're going to tell us." Dean said as Harry handed him the hair. He looked at John. "This is Bob."

"Hrothbert." Bob corrected. Hoping at least one person would call him by his actual name. "I'm...a hereditary assistant of sorts."

"Or hereditary pain in the ass, depending on his mood." Dean said with a chuckle as Bob took the hair. And turned into John, before dropping the hair and turning back to himself. Dean breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe it was a sigh of relief. It was an exhale in any case.

"Great." John said, watching. Wondering if he was still drunk. Hoping he was, actually. Because then it would all make sense. "So...Bob...proved I was me?"

"Yep, or at least that this is your natural, honest to god form." Harry said. "So... nice to meet you...I think. Would have been better well... wishes and horses right?" Harry knew there was no way he was going anywhere anytime soon. This was an emotional time bomb and Dean was the ticking clock. He didn't think Sam could contain the explosion this time. "So, are we at red or yellow alert here?" He asked Dean. 

"I don't think the degas can cross the threshold, we're good." Dean said, purposely reading between the lines wrong. "Might even be able to keep him out of the hospital if he relaxes for a bit." His mind was whirling. He had a lot of things to figure out, in his head, now that John was John. Dean didn't know where to start, or even where he wanted to start. Or if he wanted to start.

"Okay." Sam said not reading things wrong, intentional or otherwise. "You up for some food, Dad? We ordered in pizza and wings, and I think Max may even have left a little if you want it... Max being Dean's dog."

That hurt. It wasn't Dean's fault, but the mention of a dog, and he could even guess how old the dog was, if not the day that Dean got the dog. But he nodded. "Some food would be good." He said as he and his dog got off the bed. "Don't start, I'm able to walk. It's good for me too. Bones get stiff as you get older if you don't use them."

Sam nodded. "So ahm... this way." He said as he opened the door and started to lead the way out. "Did ahm... did Mom ever bring you here?" He asked, not sure exactly how familiar their father was with their mother's other life. The life where she was practically a princess.

Strange that both Morningway princesses had made their escape into the mortal world. Disturbing still that their sons had all grown up here anyway.

"Once, when we were dating." John said. "I got my orders to leave for another base the day before. She wanted to come with me, so I decided to be a gentleman about it all and ask her father. Didn't go over well." He said, remembering that blow out scene that had Mary in tears as she threw all the belongings she could into bags and suitcases to join him on a base far from Chicago.

"Hasn't changed much." Dean said with a shrug. "I'm not here enough to do any serious changes."

"Thought you ran the company?" John asked.

"Telecommuting. It's the wave of the future. I can attend meetings and hold conferences as long as I have an internet connection." Dean said.

"Yeah...me...couldn't happen in a million years. " Sam said with a laugh. "I pretty much am a walking talking gremlin where technology is concerned. Something about magic and technology not getting along very well. I don't know what I was thinking with law school."

"You were doing your own thing." Dean said with a grin. "It's not like it's hard to pay someone to type for you and everything. I do it all the time."

John just listened as they headed toward where the food was. CEO. Law school. People dreamed big for their kids when they were born, but John hadn't dreamt that big.

Sam laughed. "There is that. I don't know. A lot of those choices were wrapped up in Jessica and our plans together. I don't know that I can just pick up and go back to that life without some sort of... resolution."

"We're working on that." Dean told his brother reassuringly as they entered the room, where Max ran in a tight circle around Dean's heels. "Oh, so you've forgiven me, huh? That's awful nice of you, yes it is."

A pug. John wasn't sure what he expected. A poodle. A Pomeranian. Some useless dog with an impeccable pedigree who had a sole purpose in life to look nice and make nice looking puppies. But a pug?

"You'll have to forgive Dean. There are only two women in his life, Max and the Impala. He tends to forget the rest of the world when he is interacting with either of them." Sam said, trying to keep things light.

"And Sam has a complex whenever it comes to either of them." Dean said with a laugh. "I think he's jealous." He teased.

John laughed a bit as he helped himself to the food. He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten. "Don't worry, I won't ask for the car back." He said.

"Good." Dean said with a raised eyebrow. "Because you weren't getting it anyway."

"Jealous? Hardly. I have a..." Sam cleared his throat. Real Girl, he had almost said. It was an old joke between them. From the time Sam had started dating. He wasn't jealous of Dean and the dog or car because he had a real girl. But he didn't any more. Come to think of it he didn't have a dog or a car either. "Okay maybe a little jealous." He lied.

"I knew it. Known it for years." Dean said with a chuckle, breezing over what had almost come up. Because it was something neither man dealt with well. Actually any man in the room come to think of it. He hunkered down on the floor to play with his dog. "Help yourself Harry. We got those hot wings from that place down town."

Harry took a seat and dug into the wings with a grin. "Best place in town."  
John smiled, relieved to see they weren't alone. That his sons had someone genuine in their lives. He watched Dean play with the dog, looking at a glint of light flashing momentarily off of a silver toned band. "Is that a wedding ring?" He asked.

Dean looked up sharply and then returned his attention back to Max. "Yes." He said, tightly as Sam and Harry exchanged looks. It was something that wasn't mentioned, because Dean never tended to react well. Harry remembered trying to get the ring off Dean while he slept, but Dean had one hell of a startle reflex. Harry was lucky he got to keep his hand.

"Were you married?" John asked, not catching how the atmosphere changed with the mere mention of the ring.

"No." Dean said, just as short as before.

"Are you..." John was a Marine through and through. He didn't quite know how to ask this. "Are you...I mean...Dean, are you gay?"

"What? No!" Dean said. "Look you wouldn't understand, they don't and they were here for it, so just drop it." 

"You'd be surprised what I would understand, son." John said, wondering what could be worse than telling him he was gay. "Did she... leave you at the altar?" He couldn't imagine a woman doing that, but he was biased, this was his son. Even if he knew so little about him. 

"Yeah as a matter of fact she did. In a way." Dean said. "She was on her way out of town, at my insistence, when she got her head lopped off by the wardens. Happy now? You wanna drop it now, or do I have to make you?" He'd 'made' Sam and Harry in the past. This was a subject that was not touched, at least not in front of Dean. Even Max was agitated, sensing her human's discomfort and new pain at the mere reference to Melissa.

"Don't assume you can make me do anything, boy. Check the attitude." John said firmly, in an old familiar tone that would tolerate no argument. They might be on unsteady terms right now, but there was only so much John could tolerate. 

"Oh, I can make you shut your mouth." Dean said, springing to his feet. The man before him might be his father, but it did NOT give him the right to talk to him like he was a child. He hadn't been a child for some time. Hell, while they were with John, Dean didn't even get to be a child. He was all ready to haul off and shut John off when Sam came up behind him and stopped him. "Sam, let me go." He growled.

"Dean... let it go." Sam said quietly. "Did you really expect him to be different? Would you have wanted him to be?" Would he have really been their father if he didn't come with attitude larger than life? Would Dean have been his son if he hadn't inherited it in spades?

"You know, I was hoping. That for one minute he wouldn't have the holier than thou attitude." Dean said, shrugging off his brother, but not making another move for John. He looked at his father. "When I say I don't want to talk about something, when I don't want to discuss something, when I don't want something about me picked apart for dissection, I mean it."

"And maybe," John said, in a haunted tone, "if I had let people pick things apart when your mother died... things would have turned out very different for all of us."

"You got me there." Dean said. "Except for the part where I don't have two young kids looking to me. Everyone in this freaking room is a grown up and can wipe their own asses." He looked at Sam and Harry and sighed. "I gotta go out. Sorry, I gotta get outta here."

"I'll go with you." Harry said. Dean might think he needed to be alone but he didn't.

"Dean... for what it's worth... I'm sorry." John said. He almost told his sons that he would leave if they wanted him to, but Sam seemed to instinctively know what was coming and gave him a warning look, so he bit it back. 

"Whatever." Dean said as he grabbed his jacket and his keys. At least the Impala was safe for Harry to ride in as they headed toward the garage.

John sighed. Well, he'd messed that up, hadn't he? He could say he was out of practice with the whole father thing, but maybe he was never any good at it. At least not since Mary died. When all his dreams burned in front of him, leaving two grown sons he didn't know. One so anxious to make this work out, however it was supposed to work out, but at least with no violence. And the other so full of anger, John couldn't touch him.

Sam watched Harry and Dean leave. "Don't let it get to you...this was a nasty subject at a really rotten time." Sam explained the situation with Melissa to his father, so that he would understand. Dean was wrong. Sam understood. Dean liked to think it was otherwise but it was the spell talking, the spell that kept him wanting it in place.

"There has to be some way to break it." John said. "Whether he agrees to it or not." In his mind, it was no better than rape, really. And Dean deliberately went through it? He felt the urge to smack Dean upside the head, and was glad Dean had left. Else he would have. "So that's where the anger comes from? Some sort of retarded grief process?"

"The anger has been there since you left us. Dean got angry, I didn't talk to anyone but Dean for months. He got kicked out of 5 private schools for fighting. He blames himself for you ditching us. He blamed you for not coming back. And I don't think that has ever changed."

He could just imagine Justin Morningway's reaction to Dean. Seemingly a roughneck like his father, one reason the two men didn't get along. Morningway was genteel and elite. John got his hands dirty on a regular basis, as a soldier, as a mechanic, as a man. "Must have been rough." John said carefully, trying not to get into it with his remaining son who would talk to him.

"It was at first. We thought you were dead... we went from one set of strangers to another set of strangers...but even though he was the bad guy... not that we found that out until recently... Justin was good to us. He could have sent Dean to military school. God knows enough people told him he should. Instead he kept trying to find ways for Dean to focus his aggression. He never intentionally made him feel any less special than me because of my gifts. It wasn't a bad way to live."

John could just imagine how Justin focused Dean. He could still see Dean taking on the degas in the dark. And he thought perhaps military school wouldn't have been a bad place for Dean to go, except that would mean leaving behind Sam. At least Justin was wise enough to know the foolhardiness of that particular idea.

"Any other buttons I should know about? So I can try not to push them?"

"Don't ahm... try telling him what to do. Even Harry and I have to pussy foot around that one. He has authority issues. Now that Justin is dead... he recognizes no authority. And coming from you after all of this... it would be bad. and well... he can take me if I don't break out the wand. Don't know how often he'll let me hold him back."

John frowned. Sounded like Dean needed someone to put their foot down around him. He couldn't go through life with a delinquent attitude. "I'll try not to step on his toes too much." He'd try. "So any issues of yours I should know to avoid while I try to get to know you two?"

"Honestly I don't know." Sam said. "But if I blow up... we'll argue it out and life will go on." He said. "Dean has been walking on egg shells in some ways since ... that night, and he has been showing me the ropes of the family business so I have had places to vent. To be honest... I don't know what to think about anything... about you leaving, or us finding you. There is a lot of anger and pain that... isn't gonna go away over night and I know not all of it really belongs to you but you don't rewire 16 years in the course of a single conversation." 

"I know." John said. Though he wished it would. That he wouldn't have to walk on eggshells along with them, feeling his way around this situation. Because that wasn't something he was good at. He'd spent the last decade and a half barreling through life, not giving a crap what anyone thought of him. Now he had to.  
"Oh crap." Sam said and went to pick up the rotary phone. "Bobby was on his way to where you were." He said. "We never called him back."

"I figured once I saw you two that he was lying through his teeth about information for me." John said. It had been a trap of sorts really, and one of the only people he could kind of count as a friend had been in on it.

"Not like you would have believed him if he had told you we were alive, and it wasn't a lie...there was information. The damned thing killed again." Sam pointed out as he dialed the number for Bobby Singer's cell phone.

Bobby recognized the number as he picked up. "Which one of you is it? Dean or Sam? I'm at your daddy's hotel...the place is a mess." Bobby said as he surveyed the scene.

"It's Sam. We were attacked. Degas. We brought Dad back home with us. Sorry I didn't call sooner, to be honest it slipped my mind with the whole... drama of the thing." Sam admitted.

"I bet." Bobby snorted. "You're all in one piece? I'll gather up his stuff here to bring over, before housekeeping checks the place out. Gimme your address." 

"We're in one piece. Dad needed stitches and some antibiotics, but he's the only one with real damage." He gave the address. "He's in a mood, understandably, but thought you should know." Sam got the impression John Winchester was always in a mood.

"Good. Then nothing's changed." Bobby said and hung up. He packed up the room and drove over to the house. They'd told him how they were living, but he was still taken aback. He got his poker face on in time to enter the house and drop John's stuff at his feet. "Not my house, can't shoot you."

"You could have... should have told me, Bobby." John said. He never really believed Singer would shoot him with anything more than rock salt and that he had gotten nailed with more than once in so called friendly fire.

"And if I did, would you have believed me?" Bobby pointed out. "Hell, I barely believed it myself. Went the holy water route and everything. You would have assumed I was being spiteful, or drunk myself. It was better this way." Not that it could have been worse, but at least he didn't try to exorcize his sons.

John ran a hand through his hair and nodded, after a moment's deliberation. "Fair enough." Not that anything about this whole damned situation was fair.

He had finally stopped being a selfish bastard and done right by his sons... or at least tried to. He had found them a safe place, someplace where he had been assured he would be welcomed between hunts. He had done everything he had been supposed to do, and it had cost him everything in the end. He didn't think either of his sons would ever forgive him for it.

He wasn't sure he could forgive himself.

Bobby looked around the room. "Where's Dean?" He asked. As far as their interaction with him, they'd always come in a pair. Even when he was talking to one on the phone, he could hear the other in the background.

"Off with our cousin, cooling off." Sam said.  
"Yeah, we didn't exactly hit it off." John said with a frown. He wondered if Sam weren't wrong. If maybe the best thing he could do for both of them was get the hell out of their lives again.

"Why am I not surprised?" Bobby said with a sigh. Both men had probably turned on the Winchester 'charm' full blast. He was surprised they hadn't had a full on physical fight. "Well, maybe after the shock of it all has faded, you two can try again. If not, Sam and I will be here to referee." Because, dammit, in spite of everything, John Winchester was one of his oldest friends. 

"I'm not sure that's what Dean wants." John said with a sigh and went to sit down, Butch laying down on top of his feet.

"Dean doesn't know what what he wants " Sam said. "And you don't get to decide for him anymore." Sam could see the look in his father's eyes. The man wanted to bolt, and who could blame him? He would probably charge into hell itself for little more than the chance to tag a demon on the chin, but facing his own sons actually scared John Winchester. To Sam that was a good sign. Meant it mattered to him. Dean might not see it that clearly.

"Neither of you know what you want." Bobby said gruffly as he sat in a chair. "Control freaks with anger management problems, both of you. Probably you too Sam, if genetics hold. You just might be better at hiding it. Either way, you Winchesters are one big sloppy mess. Not your fault, but you're the ones that gotta deal with it."

"I have to be." Sam said simply. A magus that couldn't control himself was on the fast track to hell, forget the friggin' hand basket. It was something that had been pounded into his head by Bob and Justin from Day One. Self control. 

"Okay fine, that whole magic thing. I get it. Kinda." Bobby said. "Your dad and your brother...why are they so anal retentive about some things?" Bobby asked expectantly.

"Because they are control freaks with no freaking control." Sam said even though his father was standing right there. "Our whole world has been out of anyone's control from the day Mom died. And they let that chaos control them- so anything they can actually control- they do with a vengeance. "

"And of course you're not compensating for anything." John said from his chair as he looked at his youngest son. "It's all the magic. Now, I'm not starting 'anything' just pointing that out, in a probably uncalled for sarcastic way."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Well I know where I get my sarcasm from, and why it annoys the hell out of Dean. I don't know if I am compensating or not. I was 7, okay? 7 years old when I came here. In some ways I'm more Morningway than Winchester. I was able to adapt, move past some of it. Not all... that whole being abandoned no matter what the reason... hurt. It still hurts and it affects me, but until Jessica was killed... Mom's death didn't hang over my head the way it does you two. Now I know it was somehow because of me. "

"Sam, we've gone over this." John said. "It was not because of you. I'm not about to allow you to feel guilty over something like this. It's not right."

"If it wasn't about me then why did it come for Jessica?" Sam asked him, bluntly. "One woman dying over my bed I could almost believe was a random occurrence, but not two... not people that close to me. On the same date"

"Of course, I could point out that it was a one in 365 chance of it happening on the same day, and those are actually pretty good odds." John pointed out. And he didn't want to suggest this, especially since it was such a bold faced lie. "You are not the only thing that your mom and Jessica had in common. They were both from Chicago. Magical families. Things like that."

"Right so the demon just happened to wait to do it over my bed... rather than do it over our future children... just randomly chose two witches that were connected to me out of the 75 or so blonde female magi born in Chicago... and just randomly flambe'ed them over my bed, and randomly dripped their blood into my face. Sure... Dad... its all coincidence." he said rolling his eyes, exercising the family gift of sarcasm "That is if you actually believe in coincidence."

"Coincidences do happen." John said. "Unless, of course, the demon arranged for me to be stationed outside Chicago. And then the demon of course arranged for your mom and I to be pumping gas at the same station. And of course, let's not forget the demon is solely responsible for your mom's gas cap to get jammed, and for me to have the bright idea to help her out."

"Now you're just being asinine, John." Bobby said, making a face.

"That isn't coincidence. That's two people meeting. I don't have all the details, but come on Dad... the only reason you are fighting this is because it's easier to believe it's all just random."

"I could just believe you're highly competitive with your brother, even if you won't admit it. He blames me for what he thinks was abandonment." He refused to label it that. Because he never would have abandoned them. Ever. "So the only way to top that is to shoulder the death of your mother and your girlfriend."

"What he thinks was abandonment? You took us to complete strangers house and left not 10 minutes later. Yeah it was a set up, but Justin couldn't make you walk out that door without even trying to make us understand. They couldn't make you drive away. They couldn't make you bring us there. You couldn't give up the chaos, so you gave us up instead. "

"I thought I was keeping you safe!" John shot back. "I almost lost you two in that motel room because I couldn't protect you. I couldn't bring you with me and protect you at the same time. I had no idea, they even fooled Pastor Jim! It was NOT abandonment, I had every intention of going back and I DID go back!"

"You talked about puppies and a chance to play sports... what were we supposed to think? Especially after you tore into Dean like that back at the hotel. He thought it was his fault. Went back and hunted that damned thing down when he was a teenager... because he thought that was why we had lost you. It doesn't change the fact that you chose the hunt. That you took off and left us there with that hanging between us to go hunt something else. And Dean has turned out just like you, Dad. When he can't handle the situation, he runs and he hunts. And the rest of us just have to deal with it and hope he comes back."

"You were kids." John said. "You wouldn't have understood. And you didn't understand. You're adults now and you still don't understand. Dean is who Dean is. According to him, I have nothing to do with how either of you turned out." 

"Yeah well, Dean is wrong." Sam said. "And we didn't have to understand. We just had to be reassured that you were coming back. We didn't have that. Dean used to tell me you would have come back but he was lying, and I knew it. He didn't believe it. You can't change it and my being angry or hurt doesn't change a damned thing. But I am, and so is Dean, because that's how Winchesters deal with pain, isn't it? We get pissed, and then we pretend it doesn't matter while looking for new and interesting ways to commit suicide by monster." 

"Then stop." John said. "I will hunt down this demon. I've got nothing left to lose, right? Lost my wife. Apparently I've lost you two, did a long time ago, even as I kid myself that we've all managed to find each other again. You want to be more of a Morningway than a Winchester, I get that. Hate it, but I get it. So back out of the demon business and be a good magus. Dean should concentrate on the sharks in the boardroom. Leave the suicide to me."

"You're still trying to run away from us, aren't you?" Sam said, shaking his head. "What?...you'll spend 23 years chasing a demon but can't muster up the courage to fight past the metaphorical demons to make this work? Did you think there wouldn't be baggage?" Sam shook his head. "And I can't leave the demon business... the demon business came looking for me, remember." 

"Your brother was wrong to pull you into it." John said, shaking his head. "I'm not leaving, I'm still sitting on my ass here, aren't I?"

"You two should stop it." Bobby said. "At least the threatening to leave, cause you'll never get past it. And if your brother is out getting smashed, he won't need too much of an excuse to hit someone when he gets back."

"Dean didn't pull me into anything. My girlfriend was killed over my bed, with me in it... remember?" Sam said, trying very hard to maintain that self control he had worked so hard for. "And there is more than one way to run away, Dad. I'm sorry this isn't a warm and fuzzy, hearts and flowers reunion. I think we all wanted it to be, but it just isn't possible. Dean thinks you didn't try hard enough to find us...me... I think you walked out the door too soon. Maybe it's different things we're mad about." Sam said as he went to sit by his father. He couldn't help but think that if he explained it enough, talked about it enough maybe it would all make sense to some one somewhere.

"I did what I thought was a good thing." John said. "Means shit now, but it's the truth. At the time I thought I was giving you boys what I couldn't, a chance to be goddamn normal for once. I left quick because if I didn't I wouldn't have at all. Would have taken you two back to the car, and dragged you around the country, always changing schools, never being able to tell the truth. I wanted more for you than that, and I know your mother did."

"Winchesters don't do normal." Sam said with a sigh. "Or maybe it's the Morningway side and you got stuck along for the ride. I know you meant the best. I do. It's why I'm even talking to you... it just hurt. A lot."

"I get that." John said. He just couldn't change it. He couldn't make amends for it. And him just being here was picking a scab off a wound his boys had healed over. Were they even his boys anymore? He was shocked Justin hadn't insisted on changing their last name, to be honest. He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. He needed a shower. A nice, hot, long shower. Sleep would be good too. He just hadn't convinced himself this wasn't some sort of illusion, or else he'd suggest turning in. For as much as it hurt, as much as the guilt resurfaced and ate at him, his boys were alive. They were well. If this was a funked up dream, he didn't want to wake up. Because it was better than nothing.

The wound had never really healed though, and Sam knew it. It had settled into a bone deep infection, no matter what the surface looked like.

"We'll work through it Dad." Sam said, because he couldn't believe otherwise. It was going to hurt like hell, but they would come through it on the other side.

Sam had never been grateful for Justin's demise before. He had honestly loved the man. But if he had been alive when this all came to light... Dean would have been the one to kill him, probably with Sam at his side.

TMATMATMA

Harry looked over at Dean. He wondered how much more his cousin could handle before snapping like a dry twig.

Dean ignored the look from Harry as he signaled the bartender for another drink. And then the bartender gave him a look. "Bunch of baby sitters." He muttered as he handed his keys over to Harry so the bartender could see he had no intention of driving. Then he got his drink.

Dean had no intention of driving. He intended to sit there on his ass and drink until he passed out. Or at least blacked out. That sounded like a good idea. "I'm fine, Harry. Really."

"Yeah I can see that. So fine that you would crawl into a bottle if you thought you'd fit." Harry said in a conversational tone. "Who the hell would be fine after all of this? You aren't an unfeeling bastard... so obviously not you. "

"Well, I should be great. My father's back from the dead and all." Dean said, drinking his shot. "He won't admit it, but it's my fault that he left. Because I couldn't do my fucking job back then, and no matter what I do, I'm still the fuck up. That's not going to change, even if I did manage to crawl in the bottle."

"You were a kid. My god, you two scared me when you first showed up, too interdependent, you were Sam's parent... and you shouldn't have been. You were too damned young. You shouldn't have been left alone like that with a child killer on the loose as it was."

"Dad had a job. That wasn't just your normal child killer. No one else would know what to do with the damn thing. Dad was working, I had one freaking job to do, and that was it. Just watch Sammy and that was it. Wasn't like it was a hard job or anything." Dean said, oddly defensive over his father. "We're not interdependent, you're an only child. Can't expect you to understand, right?"

"He didn't speak to anyone but you for months." Harry pointed out. "Your father shouldn't have left you there, shouldn't have taken you along. He obviously had real friends he could have left you with out of harm's way. That thing was taking out children all over town with their parents right beside them. It was a damned fool thing to do, and he tried to compensate for it with another bone headed act. It wasn't your fault Dean." 

Dean sighed. "I know you're trying to make me feel better, but it's not working." Dean said. "Everything's my fault. Shit, if Dad knew even the half of it, he wouldn't have dragged me around. And he would have punched my lights out when we all re-met. Sam was my responsibility, Harry. I'm his big brother, that's my job. Look out for my younger brother. I couldn't do it. So who's really compensating? Dad? Or me?"

"You aren't making any sense. What on earth could you have possibly done as a small child to warrant your father punching your lights out now?"

"It doesn't matter now." Dean said as the bartender refilled his glass. "She's not coming back no matter of anything now. Some days, I think I should have been a still birth. Ever have one of those 'It's A Wonderful Life' moments? I mean, before Clarence comes around." 

"Yeah... when I found out why my father died." Harry would have let Morgan take his head if it weren't for Bob. "You don't think you are responsible for your mother's death, do you? I thought that was Sam's guilt trip this week."

"Yeah, well, it was mine longer. Sam's just a passenger. He just doesn't know it." Dean said. "I don't think, I know. There's a difference. Sam is guessing, and grasping at straws to make it all make sense in his head. Me? I know. There's a difference."

"What is it you think you did at 4 years of age to kill your mother?" He asked knowing there was nothing he could have done. It wasn't like he was that monster child from The Omen or anything.

"Dude, it's your tone." Dean said, shaking his head. "Conversation over. You obviously think I'm nuts or something, so you couldn't possibly understand. No one could. Just forget I said anything all right? I'm going to play some darts for a while. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll fall on one and put me out of everyone's misery."

"Dean... I think you have some 23 year old memories from a 4 year old's point of view. All children think the evils in the world happen because of them. I think this is all out of proportion, but I don't think you are nuts."

"I don't think all the evils in the world happened because of me." Dean said. "Dude, my ego's not THAT big. But one turned out all horrible and bloody and fiery because of me. That's enough, all right? All I need is that one evil thing to have happened because of me to give me a free pass on a huge guilt trip, one way for one."

"What did you do, Dean? Was it one of your mom's things? Did you mess with something magical? Or screw up a protective circle?" It was the only thing he could honestly think of that could have brought about his aunt's death.

Dean shook his head and chuckled a little. "No. I don't think Mom kept anything like that once she left Chicago with my dad." He said. "I...I saw it." He said, looking at his older cousin, green eyes filled with the terror of that night, and the guilt, the crushing guilt of over twenty years that resulted from it. "I saw it. I saw Mom. Mom was scared, so was I. And I...I went back to bed. I heard Mom scream, and I pulled the blankets around me tighter. Then I heard my dad, figured whatever it was, Dad could handle it, so I ran down there, and that's when he handed me Sam. I saw it. It was right there, looking like a person. It wasn't a person though, and it killed my mom."

Harry's expression changed. It was a guilt he could relate to. Senseless, childlike guilt at not being able to stop it. "Dean, you couldn't have stopped what happened." He said. "I know that isn't going to change what you feel. Hell another 20 years of therapy won't change the feelings. But you didn't cause her death. You did what frightened children do. What they are taught to do, hide from danger. "

"Yeah, I hid. Fat lot good it did everyone, huh?" Dean said. "I'm not allowed to be normal, Harry. When I'm normal, people get killed, or hurt. You and Sam, you think you've got it so bad, the whole no hi tech bullshit. The powers, the magic. When I'm normal, people get hurt. And the whole world, sometimes it feels like it's conspiring all together, to make sure I mess up. That I slip up, so it can have its way with the people in my life. God, I'm so sick of it."

"When have you been normal in your entire life, Dean? Not that being other than normal is bad. I like my life when Morgan stays out of it. Everyone's life gets out of their control. Control is nothing but illusion. People die. It's tragic, it's horrifying, but it isn't the fault of those of us left behind. "

Dean shook his head and took another drink, finishing it off and signaling for another one. Then he drained that one. "Forget I said anything, Harry. All right?" He said. Of course Harry would say that, he was Dean's cousin. Doubt Sam would agree with Dean's assessment anymore than Harry did. Didn't make Dean wrong though. 

"Oh I don't think I am going to be forgetting anything. Although I suspect you might with the way you are slamming those drinks. Don't worry. I'm not Sam. I'm not going to make you talk about it. Just... remember that your family loves you... no matter what, and that is me and Sam, until your father earns the right to the title." 

"I can't face him." Dean said. "His life has completely gone to shit, and it's my fault." He said and sat back a bit, wobbling even in the high backed chair. "Ooh kay. I think I've had enough." He said, and promptly slumped over onto Harry. It took a lot of alcohol to get Dean Winchester to the point of passing out, but he'd finally done it.

"Well, at least my bar is in one piece this time." The bartender said dryly. "I'll add it to his tab, he can pay me next time."

"Thanks." Harry said as he shifted under Dean and half carried him to the Impala. Soon he was making his way through the front door of his shop and easing the younger man down on the sofa.

He called the estate and told Sam that he was keeping Dean over night. He left out the details but told him his brother was blind stinking drunk and wasn't up to any more drama right then.

"Okay... thanks for taking care of him." Sam said and hung up. "Dean is sleeping it off at Harry's." He told Bobby and his father.

"Your brother go on benders like this a lot?" Bobby asked. And John was glad Bobby had. Because it was a question that Bobby could get away with, but John couldn't. But if his son was some sort of functional drunk, it was probably John's fault anyway.

"No... not that I know of anyway. Until a few months ago, I was away at college. But there haven't been any signs of it. Harry would have told me." Lots of good excuses to crawl into a bottle. Sam had to give him that much.

"Well, then I guess it's just the day." Bobby said. "So I'm gonna go grab a hotel room." This house was too much for him. From the fact that it was a mansion to the other fact that the Winchester men seemed on the verge of a fist fight to him. Something he'd like to steer clear of until they figured it out. "I'll be in town for a few days. They've got a gun show tomorrow I read."

"We'll talk to you before you go." Sam said. "Thanks for everything Bobby."

"Yeah, let me know if anyone needs any bodies that need hiding." He said with a chuckle as he showed himself out. That left John and Sam alone again in the room.

"Well, guess I should get some sleep." John said. The whole day had been exhausting. And he was fighting injuries as well.

"Yeah, me too actually." Sam said with a nod. Impulsively, he moved to give his father a brief hug. "Good night Dad." He said before turning to head for the stairs.

It had been a weird, weird night. "G'night Sammy." John said as he traced his steps back to the room he'd awoken in, his dog at his heels, as Dean's dog gave them the evil eye, looking all the world like she wanted to eat them. One son left, about to punch him probably to go on a bender. The other gave him a hug. He picked up the bag Bobby had brought him over from the hotel and found a bottle of pain killers, taking a couple dry. His world was already off kilter. The drugs could only help right now as he carefully laid down, and quickly passed out.


	9. Chapter 9

John woke up that morning with a groan. And took a lukewarm shower. He looked at his stitches, they'd held. Dean really could stitch. Then he found his way to the kitchen to find some coffee, finding a pot. The cook, John didn't know, always had a fresh pot ready at all times, because that's what his eldest lived on.

He drank three cups before he felt nearly human. Then he wandered out along the first floor of the mansion.

Harry arrived early that morning as well, wanting to be here and back before Dean woke up. He wanted to get the man a change of clothes, and if his breath when he had checked on him that morning was any indication, he needed mouthwash like flowers need rain.

He passed by the kitchen and peeked in thinking to raid the coffee and pastry himself, and frowned seeing John there. "Morning." He said as he walked in, picking up a danish and standing in line for the coffee pot.

John nodded in return and moved away from the coffee pot. He looked over Harry's shoulder. "Where's Dean?" He asked. If he remembered right, this was the cousin who had taken Dean back to his place last night.

"Sleeping it off, I came to get a clean change of clothes for him." He looked John over. "You did a real number on those boys." He said figuring it needed to be said and not by the boys in question.

John straightened up and looked at Harry. "Excuse me?" He said, hoping this guy, cousin or not of his sons, wasn't butting his nose in where it didn't belong. "Dean goes on a bender and it's my fault? Couldn't have anything to do with a whole bunch of things culminating with my reappearance, could it?" And some of that shit had to do with magic.

"Dean goes on a bender and spills his guts to me... Bender isn't anyone's fault but Dean's, but what's inside that boy's head... oh that was there when he came to us. I was living here when they arrived. Sam wasn't talking and Dean was desperate to make sure he didn't lose his brother too."

"Wow. Great evidence you got there. Pull that out of your hat along with your rabbit?" John asked, shaking his head and sitting down with his coffee. "They thought I was dead. Last remaining parent. Sounds like a normal grief reaction to me."

"Did you know that Dean blames himself for your family being torn apart?" Harry asked. "That he saw the damned demon that night and thinks he could have done something to stop it... at 4 years old? That he figures you dumped them off because you were pissed at him for not doing his job and protecting Sam? What the hell were you doing taking them into a town with a child killing witch in the first place?"

"Back off." John growled. Floored by the first revelation. "Dean was four years old. He doesn't know what he saw." He never forgot that night, it replayed every time he closed his eyes, whether to sleep or to merely blink. And he clearly remembered his son running TOWARD the room. Not away from it. "Fine, you mean well. Thank you for taking care of Dean last night. I'm sure he'll appreciate it. What I don't appreciate is commentary on everything else on things you couldn't understand."

"Couldn't understand what? Vengeance? Chaos? Rage? You don't know what I would understand. And you know nothing about your sons. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you left them behind. They were a mess after just 7 years with you. I'd hate to think what you would have done to them with 15. Dean would probably be on the Most Wanted list instead of Fortune 500."

"Oh you'd love it if I just faded away, wouldn't you?" John snarled, standing back up, coffee forgotten. "Complete their Morningway transformation and all. Make sure the only Winchester in them is the last name. For a moment there I thought your name was Justin."

"The name is Dresden. Harry Dresden. I'm as uninvolved in the Du Morne tradition as you can get." He said using the old form of the family name. "I don't want you to fade away. I want you to see that your debt to these two doesn't start when you dropped them off... it started when your wife died."

"You probably never met her. You have no right to bring my wife into this." John snapped. "Whatever is between me and my sons stays between me and my sons. I was willing to cut you a break, be polite, seeing as they like you. But removed from the Du Morne tradition? Aren't you a practicing wizard? Isn't that the tradition? Along with interfering in everyone else's life, trying to remove the 'bad' influences? You've crossed a line you didn't even bother to respect."

"What line do you want me to respect?" Harry asked. "That they're your sons? They spent more years away from you than with you. Sam cried when he was 12... when Justin brought the car out for Dean, because the only way he could remember seeing your face was in the rear view mirror, other than that all he could remember was the back of your head. Dean has spent his life trying to make up for something that wasn't even his fault. Because you made him feel that it was, and you want me to respect that you are their father? "

"I want you to respect that there are some things you couldn't understand." John said. "Yeah, I made some mistakes. Show me a person who doesn't. But they're my boys and I love them. And to have someone who, to me, is a perfect stranger, come in and try to shove half a story in my face is insulting. Not to mention dumb. Go back to your parlor tricks, Dresden."

"You aren't in a position to even own a high horse, Winchester. And the half of the story I am shoving in your face... is what is in your sons' past, and in their memories. You want to be insulted by it, so be it. The only thing dumb about it was expecting you to hear. But I guess you don't want it bad enough."

"What I don't want is to be attacked by someone I don't even know. And I bet if I ask the boys, they'll want you to stay out of it too." John pointed out, coldly, as he calmed himself down. Fighting the feeling to just slug him and shut his mouth. "That should be a hint. Stay out of this."

"What you don't want is to face the truth." Harry said as he turned to leave the room, pausing at the door. "They're my family too... all the family I have left, so don't think this isn't my business. " He added then started toward the stairs.

John shook his head. Then slammed his coffee cup in the sink, shattering the ceramic against the metal. "Great." He said. Well, this was a wonderful morning.

Sam stopped on the stairs, spotting Harry with a face like a thunder cloud headed upwards. " How's Dean?" He asked.

"Still out. Your old man is probably in a mood. I stirred up a hornet's nest, I think."

"Harry." Sam sighed, but couldn't bring himself to yell at his cousin. He knew that Harry thought he was just looking out for them.

"It needed to be said." Harry said in his own defense.

"Maybe." Sam said, not sure which hornet's nest he had stirred up. "But you know... even if he was a jerk about it... he was a victim too."

"That's not what I was talking to him about. Anyway, I'm gonna get a change of clothes for Dean and head back over there. He might wake up drunk, no guarantee on when I can get him home."

"Thanks for looking after him." Sam said. "If he isn't home later this afternoon, I'll swing by." He headed toward the kitchen, to see if the cook had started breakfast yet.

Marlo, the cook, had come into the kitchen, and promptly left. John gave off the 'leave me the hell alone' and she was a tiny, nearly elderly lady. She was happy to comply. So no breakfast was being made, so John was scrambling eggs. He heard the footsteps behind him, and his broad shoulders tensed, as if expecting a rematch with that asshole cousin, but he relaxed when he turned and saw Sam, even if it was only warily relaxed.

"Morning." He said.

"Morning." Sam said in return. "Looks like Dean went on one hell of a bender last night so it might just be you and me for the most part today." He said. He wasn't sure what to do during that day. Part of him was afraid to let John out of his sight. To be honest he was surprised that the man was still there. Had half expected him to leave in the middle of the night but he kept that to himself. It wouldn't solve anything to say it.

"Yeah, he'll spend half the day passed out and the other half holding the toilet praying to whoever's listening to die." John said with a chuckle. "If genetics have anything to say about it anyway. Lucky for us, unlucky for him, the forces of good will decide it's punishment, and the forces of bad will laugh their asses off at the torture. So he's safe." He joked, but it barely reached his eyes as he slid the done eggs onto a plate and slid it over to Sam, starting on another batch for himself.

Sam laughed. "Yeah, genetics hold out. It's why I don't drink much unless I am pretty much already praying to die. Thanks for breakfast. So... any idea what you want to do today?" He didn't know if he was ready to relive Jessica's death, so bringing up the demon wasn't high on his list of things to want to do, never mind the fact that it was probably the one thing he and his father had in common. Maybe that was why he was trying so hard to forgive him. He didn't know if he could have done half so well if he had children to think of as well.

"I don't know." John said as he finished making his eggs. "It just keeps hitting me that you're my son, I cut your umbilical cord, after the doctor I was the first person in the whole world to hold you...and I don't know anything about you."

"What do you want to know?" Sam asked with a smile. This he could handle. a little Q&A time with the old man. Get to know things about each other without the pressure of the past weighing on them. Please God let it be without pressure.

John settled at the table with another cup of coffee and a plate of eggs. "Everything. Anything." John said. "Anything you want to tell me. " 

"Wow, that leaves it wide open." He said, smiling easily, and he just started to talk. He filled his father in on their lives, the reader's digest version. He started with his likes and dislikes, and moved on into stories of the two of the growing up. Sam had been a quiet child for the first couple of years with Justin, afraid to open up or trust anyone not to leave. But he had eventually given into his nature... a friendly talkative young man, full of questions, and tightly controlled rage.

John told Sam what he'd been up to for fifteen years. It wasn't much. Hunting. Traveling. But he occasionally met interesting people. Or at least people who did or said interesting things. "Wow. Law school." John said, shaking his head. "Your mother swore you were brilliant, before you were even born."

"I wouldn't say brilliant. Dean's the one that's brilliant. He barely finished highschool and he is running a corporation mostly from his lap top these days. there are people with multiple business degrees that don't do as well. I'm just good at studying and tests... Dean just... has an instinct about things. "

"Don't discount yourself so easily." John said. "There's still a case to be made for you too. Tests and studying is just part of it. It's still more than I ever hoped for you two." 

"I don't see how you could have hoped for anything." Sam said honestly. "I feel so empty inside with out her... and we ... I... I hadn't formally gotten to ask her to marry me yet... it was one of those things that was understood but... I had just gotten the ring... I can't imagine if this had happened after years together... after children had been born. I was just going to lay there and let it take me too...I wanted it to."

"I know." John said, and he did. He wanted nothing more than to crawl inside himself and die. But he couldn't. He could still see his four year old son, whisper soft, 'Daddy, what do we feed Sammy?' and 'Daddy, where's Sammy going to sleep now?' And wondered if Dean had seen what he had seen. "Believe me, son, I know. But you find things, people, to keep going for, until it becomes almost automatic."

"Dean pulled me out of there...He's assuming that I'm gonna get past this and go back to being me... but I can't. You and Harry and Dean can sit there all day and tell me it had nothing to do with me but I know that it did. It might not have started with me but it came to roost there, didn't it?"

"I told you I don't have all the answers yet." John said. "And that there were other circumstances similar to ours. It's a lot of information to go through, and hardly any at the same time. I've been on this since the smoke finally cleared from our old house in Kansas. It's not like I haven't been doing anything."

"Why is everything an accusation with you?" Sam asked tiredly. "I didn't think for a minute you hadn't been doing anything. Hell that's the reason we're here, isn't it? That driving force to continue the hunt...it's why Dean and I are here and not... still driving around the country side looking for something to kill. Well at least it's why it wasn't a constant in our lives, so believe me, I didn't think you would walk away from the hunt." 

"Some days I wish I could." John said, dropping his eyes to his coffee. Reigning everything in before he had BOTH his newly discovered sons at his throat. He couldn't take that. Not after finding them again. Or more correctly, them finding him. "I'll let you boys have at my research and notes. See if there's anything I missed." The important stuff, the stuff he'd never tell either of them, was in his head anyway.

"The thing is... what are we going to do with the damned thing once we find it?" Sam asked. "All the tracking in the world isn't going to help us destroy something that was forged in heaven and tempered in hell." 

"I've got feelers out on that." John said. "Some things might pan out, others might be dead ends. Nothing in this search has been short term, unfortunately. It's all been years in the making, and waiting. There aren't any shortcuts in this."

"Short cuts get you in trouble." Sam said. that was one magical philosophy that held true in mundane life as well. Shortcuts got you in trouble and sometimes dead.

"Glad you agree. You'd be surprised how many people are into instant gratification." John said with a chuckle. One didn't last long as a hunter that way. Preparation was the key to survival.

"Dean used to do this killer imitation of Bob... while making him out to be Yoda from Star Wars. Telling me how it would lead to the dark side of the force." Sam laughed. "Used to drive Bob nuts. But he did it to make me laugh when I was tired of all the steps involved in learning a spell or potion."

"Your brother always had a thing for Star Wars. Funny, considering the first one came out before he was even born." John said with a smile tinged with nostalgia. "Star Wars pillows, sheets, blankets, had posters, the whole nine. When we first brought you home, he thought you looked like Yoda a bit."

Sam laughed at that. "Newborns are not pretty." He said. "Now he says I look like some sort of sheep dog."

"I wasn't going to say anything." John said with a grin. "But...he's got a point. Might be the Marine in me, but, Sam...wouldn't hurt you to get a hair cut."

"Dude... I would look like an escapee from Teen Beat with short hair. Seriously man, I would look like a mutant 12 year old. I get carded enough as it is."

"Or you could just get called Samantha." John pointed out, humor glimmering in his dark eyes at that. He could imagine Dean giving Sam a hard time about it. "But it's your hair. We'll just shave it while you're sleeping. Then you can look like an escapee from a chemo clinic."

"Don't even think about that. Dean was grounded for a month for putting nair in my conditioner when we were kids. You know, he went nuts without his electronics for a month. Thought it was torture or something."

"I can see how it could be." John said with a chuckle. "But I am glad you two had it all right with Justin, no matter what my opinion on the man." 

"He was good to us." Sam said with a nod. "I think he genuinely cared for all three of us. Convinced himself he was doing the right thing. But he was involved in a lot of black magic. Things that he managed to keep hidden from the council. I suspect it's an old family tradition of some sort. Jessica's mother hinted that it might have something to do with Jess and Mom's death but I think she was grasping at straws. Harry's mother was killed as well, but we don't know how. Harry doesn't know what it was only that it was a thing and not a person."

"Your mom and your girlfriend were killed by a demon. Not the kind that can be summoned and controlled either. Black magic had nothing to do with it." John said with a certainty.

Sam nodded. "That's what I thought as well. Something incorporeal. The demons an average wizard can summon are pretty solidly... corporeal. " He and Dean had taken on one of those once. Solid and packed a mean punch too.

"Corporeal like a brick wall." John said, chuckling at memories of his own. "But they are better than nasty little poltergeists who like to throw knives. Gotta say that."

"Shadow monsters aren't high on my list of fun either" Sam said.

TMATMATMA

Harry picked up the freshly made hangover potion and poured a couple of ounces into a coffee mug and then added black coffee. "Come on sleeping beauty, time to wake up and smell the porcelain."

Dean groaned and pulled the blanket tighter around him, trying to become one with the couch. He remembered walking into the bar. That was about it. He wasn't surprised he woke up here though.

Then the stench of coffee reached his nose. Normally he loved coffee. But right now, as hung over as he was, everything could be described as a stench as he bolted off the couch and dove for the toilet, grasping the cold porcelain as if it were indeed a god. Grabbing blindly onto the sink for the mouthwash, he alternated with throwing up and rinsing his mouth out. "Oh god..." He moaned.

"I got the cure here." Harry said handing over the mug. "Down it... and don't fight it when it comes back up. You'll feel better."

The very mention of drinking anything made him puke again as he hung over the toilet. "Dude...if the toilet seat happens to hit my head and knock me out, causing me to drown in the toilet...don't save me." He groaned out.

"Come on, head up and down this." Harry said once more, laughing in spite of himself.

"You're a sadistic bastard." Dean said as he sat against the wall and took the coffee mug. He downed it in one shot, and was soon lunging for the toilet again as it came back up. "Was that fun to watch? Shit, you probably have a video camera somewhere."

"If I do, it wouldn't work." Harry told him. "I'm not a sadist... just figure a little pain is a minor price to pay for surviving your alcohol poisoning." It wasn't that bad, but it was definitely rough.

Dean spit a few more times, then rinsed his mouth out. He flushed the toilet for hopefully the last time and dug through one of the drawers for a wrapped toothbrush. He kept a few handfuls here, this wasn't the first time Harry had pulled him out of a bar after all. Just the first time he'd had a black out of this magnitude. He brushed his teeth and exhaled. "Exactly how much did I have last night? New record?" He asked with a chuckle.

"I didn't know it was possible to drink that much and not die." Harry said. "I had Bob keeping an eye on you while I got the potion started. And when I went to get you a change of clothes." He left out the part about the argument with Winchester. He honestly felt that Justin did the right thing this time in taking the boys. Winchester shouldn't have had children after his wife died.

"Dude, I'm a god." Dean said with a chuckle as he washed his face. "First thing today, I should change my name to Dionysus." He slowly made his way out to the kitchen, carefully, in case that potion wasn't fool proof, and got himself a proper cup of coffee. "The old man still there or did he take off in the middle of the night?"

"He's still there." Harry said, his disapproval evident in his voice. He didn't like the man's attitude. Not an ounce of remorse in the man.

"You didn't talk to him, did you?" Dean asked over his coffee, eyes cutting to Harry. "Please tell me you two didn't get into it."

"How's your head feeling?" Harry asked, not answering either way. He hadn't given John half the tongue lashing he had wanted to, his own temper had been too close to the edge. He couldn't afford to lose it.

"Like it wants to explode." Dean said as he rubbed his temples. "Next time I get that bright idea, start serving me water. I won't know the difference at that point."

"I will keep that in mind." Harry said with a laugh. "Headache will go away later.. once you get more of said water inside you."

"Coffee has water in it." Dean pointed out as he poured himself another cup. "And I have a web conference today too. But hey, good excuse to avoid him, right?" His father. The man who had literally driven him to nearly drink his liver into protest by failure last night. He remembered that much.

"If you don't want him around... tell him. He and Sam can bond on their own time if they want. You shouldn't have to run from your own home." Harry didn't know if avoiding John was good or not, but pushing the man on him certainly wasn't.

"Dude, I did not run from my home. I left to get drunk. That's not exactly an unusual occurrence." Drunk to that degree, that was the first time that had happened. Usually he stopped or at least slowed when he started to get a good buzz going. "Besides, he might know something on the demon. I know he does. Or it's in his research. And...and he's the only one that can tell us about Mom. Everyone else is dead."

"Is that why you wanted to find him?" Harry asked. He knew this had to be a confusing time for Dean. There was no way it couldn't be. The last time he had seen his father had been so emotionally charged, and all the years of grief...

"He's still my father. No matter what. Haven't decided if he's 'dad' yet, but he'll always be my father." Dean said. "I wanted to know if he really was alive. Why he left us. Why he didn't come back. Whole bunch of other whys, those are the big ones. And Sam was so young when Mom died, he'll never know her. But if he could at least know his father, for better or worse...I don't know. I guess I didn't think much past finding him first."

"Understandable." Harry said. "But this is a difficult situation under the best of circumstances, which this isn't. I'll be honest. I don't like the man. I am amazed he hasn't been killed in his sleep by the other hunters out there. "

"He was a Marine. He's got one hell of a startle reflex. Hard to sneak up on him." Dean said with a shrug. "You know, it wasn't bad. Before the shtriga. It wasn't perfect, but Harry...it wasn't bad."

"Yeah... that's why you think you are responsible for your mom's death, that's why the two of you were such a mess when we got you home, because it wasn't bad."

"Dude, you should know better than to listen to people who are drunk and passing out." Dean said. "We never make much sense. But it wasn't all bad. And forget everything I said last night, if this morning isn't proof enough, I was drunk off my ass."

"In Vino Veritas." Harry said as he leaned back in his chair. He knew that it wasn't the liquor talking the night before. It had been the trauma of childhood and the stuff of nightmares working its way out of Dean the night before.

"Dude, I was four. I have an over active imagination and a need to make everything my responsibility so that I can attempt to control it." Dean said. At least that's what some school shrink told him.

"Nice to know you heard part of what I was saying last night, doesn't change the fact that it's in there, and the fact that you blame yourself for the shtriga thing."

"Dude, if you're going to start, you need to provide some hair of the dog." Dean said, making a face. "The shtriga thing IS my fault. Bet if you asked my father, he'd agree. Doesn't make us wrong just because you don't agree."

"You shouldn't have even been there. What moron takes his children on a hunt after a creature that preys on siblings?" Harry said. "It wasn't your fault that the damned thing figured out where you were and wanted to twist a knife in your old man."

"He was trying to keep us together." Dean said. "He did his best, he messed up, but he tried, okay?" Dean said as he forced more coffee down his throat.

"That doesn't make his screw up your fault. I will admit, I can understand his being driven, I can understand his not wanting to lose you two... but that particular hunt, he set up the problem. Even if you had been in that room... you were just a kid. If it had been easy to take down, your old man would have done it. Was it easy to kill? When you went after it again?"

"Dude, I was nineteen." Dean said. A highly trained nineteen year old. There were some members of the special forces that couldn't have taken Dean down, all at once, then. "It wasn't a walk in the park. What the hell am I doing? I'm not even sure I like the guy." 

"If it wasn't a walk in the park as a highly trained 19 year old... what the hell do you think you could have done as an 11 year old boy?" Harry said. "I don't care if you bond like super glue with him and let bygones be bygones.. I want you to understand that you are carrying around HIS burden, not yours."

Dean gave Harry a look. It was his burden. And he'd carry it. That was that. And made a note not to get shitfaced with his cousin again. Harry knew the buttons to make him spill. "Well, I hope Sam's doing all right with him. I can't believe I abandoned him like that. If it's not going well, he might even hate me for this."

"Sam seemed fine when I was there. " Harry said. He didn't like the effect this was having on Dean. Probably would have been best for both boys to go on believing their father was dead, but he would never say that. In some ways it was a cruel thing to think, but there was just too much baggage for either of them to handle right now.

Dean reluctantly stood up and stretched, and grabbed the clothes Harry had brought for him and changed. "Might as well go back. Even if Sam forgives me, Max might not." He joked. 

"Yeah and we all know that dog rules the house with an iron paw." He said as he studied his young cousin. "You got it or you want me to tag along?"

"I'm good. Probably lock myself in the office and do some work. Or just pretend to." Dean said. "That way he's not tempted to give me a frigging lecture on drinking or something." 

"Call me later" Harry said "I've got some work to do today myself."

TMATMATMA

Sam had pulled out the photo albums. All of them. Which included pictures of their mother as well. There had been so many land mark experiences that his father had missed, this seemed the only way to share those things.

John flipped through the albums, lingering over the pictures of a youthful Mary with a sad smile. He looked through his son's childhood, the pang hitting deep that he was looking at it through pictures, when he should have been there. He should have been taking the pictures. Not whoever Justin had hired.

Sam winning various academic awards, dances, dates, pictures of his Jessica, lost too soon. She was certainly beautiful, had that same touch of innocence Mary had had. He looked at the pictures of Dean with a slight frown, though he tried to hide it. His awards had nothing to do with academics, and all to do with various forms of martial arts and weaponry. He could only imagine what Justin, ever manipulative, had been trying to do with his sons.

"These are great." He said as he flipped a page.

"I used to hate that the camera was ever present. Self conscious and all, but now I'm glad." Sam told his father. Sam hated that his father hadn't been a part of his life, but the thing that confused him, was that he wouldn't have really wanted a life different than what he had, and he didn't know how to communicate that without sounding like a jerk or like he didn't want John in his life. They weren't okay yet. That was going to take time, but he was here, and there was a chance... and Sam didn't want to ruin it.

"Yeah, I can understand that." John said with a chuckle. Looking at the pictures, of the lives they had had, John could just imagine in his head the life his sons would have had with him. Nothing like this, that was for sure.

"Dean though, he was a ham for the camera. Smiles at it like he does a pretty girl and it seems to melt for him just like they do. Me... It's work... pictures and girls. "

John laughed. "Yeah, I can tell that." He said looking at the pictures. "Your brother really is a ham." Which he wouldn't have expected from the nearly out right surly attitude he'd gotten from his eldest son so far. "I'm sure you do better than you think with women and pictures."

"Well... I had figured out who I wanted when I was about 11. Don't care much for settling I guess. How long did you know Mom before you knew she was the one?" 

John had to laugh. "Exactly five minutes." John said. "Took a little longer to convince her, though." Mary had been leery. But he prayed silently that Sam wouldn't be stuck in the same trap John was, mourning a lost love for the rest of his life.

"Girls still had cooties when Jess and I first met, but we were always stuck at the council dinners as the only children there... Dean had gotten to that stage where he was too grown up to play if others were watching. Once I got over the cooties thing, I knew. "

John laughed at that. "Yeah, that stage passes quickly under the right circumstances." He said as he flipped a page and saw a picture of Dean with a woman with honey blonde hair. "Is that her?" Meaning the woman who had messed his son up. It was taken at the charity function.

"Yeah... that was Melissa." He said. "They had announced their engagement just before that was taken." Sam sighed. "If I had been more careful I could have broken the spell, but I had to go and get myself caught." He shook his head. 

"It's not your fault." John said. "And Dean...well, he'll get that spell broken one way or another sooner or later." Though he was on the same page as Harry and Sam, that Dean shouldn't have a say in that matter.

"If the situation were reversed he would move heaven and hell to free me of it... but he fights us at every turn. I guess it's part of the spell because his reasoning doesn't make sense to me. If the spell is in place no one else can cast it on him again.. his reasoning... not even sure if that's accurate. But it's what he tells us. " 

"Can't you do it behind his back?" John asked. Dean obviously wasn't in his right mind, and shouldn't have a choice on this. He had enough pain, why add more?

"Not as easy as it sounds. We've been working on it. Unfortunately I think the ring is a focus... and he comes up swinging even when he should be so deeply unconscious it isn't possible, when you try and remove it. Poor Harry wound up with a concussion last time we tried."

"Well, you got an extra person here to hold him down if you want." John offered. Dean might be strong, and trained, but eventually numbers won out.

Sam nodded. "Once we figure out how to break it, then we'll need help and believe me where Dean is concerned it will take you and Bobby and probably a spell or two to hold him down while Harry and I work. He will be utterly pissed, might not forgive any of us for a while but... if it takes away the grief.. It's worth it.. he watched her die, Dad... he was there when Morgan executed her for the use of black magic."

John paled a bit, that Dean had to watch it. Even without him, his sons had seen far too much death.

Dean was leaning against the doorway, utterly silent, as they discussed how to get the ring off him and break the spell. "Great plan. Thanks for letting me in on it." He said with arms crossed over his chest. 

"Dean..." Sam said and sighed. "I'm not going to apologize... you know my reasons... Just... remember it's because I don't want to see you hurt... not that I want to control you or anything, okay?"

"Yeah, whatever." Dean said, rolling his eyes. "Just drop it, okay? That's all I ask. It's not affecting you guys at all. Just leave it alone."

"Dean, your brother has a point." John said. 

"The hell it doesn't affect me." Sam said. "You're my brother, everything that affects you affects me. Especially when you hurt."

"Just...back off on it, all right?" Dean said, shaking his head. "I'm fine. Look, I gotta go do some work, so stay out of the study for a few, all right?" He teased his brother. Because his brother would fry the connection and everything else.

"Yeah, alright, I'll stay out of the study. " Sam agreed. He was beginning to think he needed to start focusing more on that spell. One of the men in this family should have the option to be happy. One of them shouldn't have to wake up in the middle of the night to emptiness and images of death plaguing their dreams. "I'm gonna take Dad down into the lab... see if there is anything in Justin's books ... demon centric stuff."

"Yeah, okay." Dean said. "Just don't rope him into your personal crusade." Meaning the spell on Dean. He went into the study and turned on his lap top and his web cam and dialed up the office down town, to get that underway. He was a little late for the stock holders' meeting, but he'd just blame it on the connection.

John watched him leave and the study door shut behind him. It still boggled his mind that his son was locking himself in that room to run a company that made more money than the budgets of some countries. Then he turned to his youngest son. The would be lawyer and wizard extra ordinaire. Funny how life worked out.

"You think Justin's got something down there or just keeping your brother and I separated for the time being?" He asked. 

"I think Justin might have something down there to give us ideas about how to break that spell. He was into black magic... who knows what we'll find? You and Dean... he'll mellow out. It's been... it's been a wild ride since finding out you weren't dead. He just needs time. He'll come around when he's ready."

John hoped that Dean came around before he was really dead. He'd at least been given half a chance by Sam, then maybe Sam didn't have half the baggage his brother did. But they'd all been robbed. He knew that. It wasn't fair, to any of them, but the last thing he wanted to do was make it doubly hard for them as he was led down into the lab. He looked around, truthfully he'd been expecting something out of a horror movie or something.

"So you think we can do this without his help?" John asked.

"I hope so, because he isn't giving it. I am hoping to find either a similar spell, or maybe a spell that will make him untouchable magically. If I can put it on an item, it can be removed if we need to use magic to heal him or something like that. Might have to trick him into wearing it the first time but... if it even shields him a little from her spell he might start thinking clearly again."

"He normally a clear thinker, or more driven by impulses?" John asked. Unfortunately, the way things stood right now, the only way to have insight into his oldest son was to ask the youngest.

"He likes to pretend he's impulsive." Sam said. "He thinks on his feet, and thinks fast. The more emotionally charged the situation, the longer he thinks about it. Usually pretending to be avoiding the subject."

"Then we've got our work cut out for us." John said as he started flipping through a book. Occult books were not new to him after all. "We'll find something. He'll probably punch us, but hey, the worst that could happen is he hates us for a little while. Or at least me."

"If he doesn't hate you now... trust me... nothing we can do is going to change that." Sam pointed out. And no matter what vibe Dean was throwing off, he didn't hate his father. Otherwise he would have walked in and kicked him out of the house under the auspice of protecting Sam. 

John shrugged. He didn't know how to read Dean. He played things close to the vest so far. Not like the more open kid he remembered. And he had to remember that these weren't the kids he remembered. They were adults now.

"Yeah, well, guess only time will tell on that one." John said. "I'm not finding anything." He said about the spell.

"Me either. We'll find something... eventually." Sam said turning another page. "If not here, then somewhere. Unfortunately the council confiscated all of her books and destroyed them. They say they destroyed them anyway." Even though Sam had a seat on the council and if anything major occurred they couldn't get away with not calling him, but he was still too young and too new for them to take him seriously just yet.

"Exactly. They say they did." John pointed out. "Might be worth investigating that angle also. If you could get your hands on what she did exactly, might be easier to undo." It wasn't much different than trying to reverse a voo doo curse, or a gypsy hex, which he had experience in doing.

"That could take some doing. I don't have access to their archives or vaults yet. Haven't proven myself yet. Can't say I blame them... I'm 22 after all." He said with a laugh. "I don't know that I would think any differently in their position."

"Well, if they won't let you in, you can always attempt to break in." John suggested. "I don't see how they can just turn a blind eye to what Dean is going through and sleep at night."

"They are like any other ruling body, Dad. The individual isn't the point, and Dean has made it abundantly clear to everyone who could possibly care that he is fine, doesn't want to be bothered and he hates every last one of them for Morgan killing her like that. "

In this case, John felt the individual was very much the point. "He'd probably hate them even without the spell. Sounds rather barbaric, really." John pointed out. Did they have to do it in front of Dean? 

"She was trying to escape...Dean had told her to go... even after she had just tried to kill us both with a demon. The spell is powerful enough that he was still hopelessly in love with her knowing the truth and both of us nearly dying. If he hadn't called the pilot and told him not to take off, no matter what he said when he got there... who knows where they would be right now. "

"Then I'm glad he thought before hand and called the pilot." John said. This spell had to be broken, even if he ended up ruining his relationship with his oldest son for good. He'd hold the boy down and physically knock some sense into him if he had to.

"It was the only way I would agree not to go onto the plane with him." Sam said and shook his head. "But until we know how to break the damned thing, there is no point it pressuring him on it. Believe me all it does is piss him off."

"This is where you tell me I haven't even seen a bit of his real temper, right?" John said, amused. Winchesters were never known for having nice even tempers. Why would his sons be any different?

Sam laughed. "Oh you probably have, I doubt his temper is a new acquisition. I mean, when we came here he was in three different schools in a year because of that temper. I'm betting it's been with him all along. It's just more dangerous now that he is bigger and trained better than most elite military types."

John frowned. "Son, I was a Marine. I know all about how the elite military are trained, and what they can do. Question is, why would your uncle do that to a kid?" John said. "If he wanted to contain Dean, there had to be better ways of doing it." He was ashamed to say that he didn't know his son. He didn't know if his son could control that temper of his. But he did know that men who received training like that were lethal weapons, just with their hands.

"I've been wondering that myself really, ever since we found out about what happened to Harry's father. It put our childhood in a different light, you know. But I didn't want to look to deeply into it since the man was dead, and couldn't do what ever it had been he was planning. I suspect he was planning a coup on the council though. "

"Using your brother. And you most likely." John stated, and felt the old anger he'd always felt toward Justin Morningway bubble up within him, until he felt his hands at his sides clench into fists. He made himself consciously relax and took a deep breath. "Well, then hate to say it," though he really didn't, "it's a good thing the man is dead."

"You know that's so hard to hear, and harder still to agree with, but I do." He said with a sigh. "We love him, you know... he... he was good to us in all the ways we knew about. All this crap in the shadows eats at my gut. "

"I bet." John said. It ate at his, and he didn't even like the man. Never had. "Think if you don't mind, I'm gonna call Bobby and see about that gun show. I'm not leaving town, but I guess I owe him too."

"Okay.. it's fine. It's not like you can hover around us 24/7. I can't even take that much of Dean now that I'm over the age of 12." He said with a laugh. "Now when I was younger... it was a different story."

"A much different story." John said with a laugh. "You were his shadow for a long time." Even before the demon destroyed his family, when Sam was a newborn, Dean was there. Very much involved in his younger brother, even if he was constantly asking when he'd be old enough to play with.

"Yeah... I didn't deal well with the separation anxiety when he started to have a life of his own. I got over it. And... you should go call Bobby. I am just going to sit here and keep looking through these books. Maybe pack them up and turn this into my lab now... I don't know."

John thought about it for a moment, and he was pretty sure his oldest had had his own version of separation anxiety when Sam 'grew up' for the most part. Might have made him vulnerable to whatever spell he was under. But he nodded and went to call Bobby, who was coming to pick him up. Their long, screwed up friendship was like that. He slowly opened the study door, where Dean was holding a tele conference with authority, not even noticing the door slowly and quietly shutting as he went to wait for Bobby.

Sam came up stairs a couple of hours later, carrying boxes of Justin's books. He had taken what was useful to him out of them and was going to give Harry a chance to do the same before he sealed them away in the vault. They would be invaluable for research into the black when needed but otherwise far too dangerous to have out and about.

He was worrying about his brother. Not that he had stopped since he had discovered the spell on his brother in the first place, but he didn't dare go over to the study. This would be a bit more serious than fritzing his game boy.

Dean was in there for a few hours in the teleconference. After he was done, he grabbed a frisbee and headed out to the yard with Max. "Hey Sam." He said. Their father wasn't lurking about, but he'd heard Bobby's truck, so figured those two went to do whatever it was they did. "Gonna go play catch with Max. Want to come? See? As low tech as it gets."

Sam smiled. "Sure, sounds good." He said. "I'm clearing out the lab, gonna make it mine." He told him as he sealed the box and wrote and appropriate protective sigil on it. Harry had come and gone, actually taking very little information from the books. He had been more interested in making sure Sam and Dean were alright. 

Sam tossed the pen down and got to his feet. " Let me drop this off in the vault first."

"Okay." Dean said as they walked to the vault, Max nipping at their heels impatiently. "Saw Harry. Briefly." He said with a chuckle. Harry wouldn't go near the study anymore than Sam would out of respect for Dean's property and livelihood. "Dad took off with Bobby I saw."

"Yeah, went to a gun show. Figured he owed Bobby, besides, I think he misses things like having friends." Sam said with a faint laugh. He set the box of books in the vault and stepped outside to close it once more. "So how are you doing? Harry said you were pretty hammered last night."

"He told me he didn't think someone could drink that much and still live." Dean said with a laugh. "Just another point of evidence that yes, I am a god." He said with a devil may care grin. Then he shrugged. "Woke up wishing I wasn't quite so immortal and invincible, but hey, gotta pay your dues right?"

Sam laughed. "Yeah that's how that works. Did it help? Getting blind stinking drunk?"

"No idea." Dean said with a laugh as they got outside and he threw the frisbee for his dog. "I don't remember anything after leaving the house last night. So that's a good sign, right?"

"I don't know... that would freak me out. But you were with Harry so it should be okay... although Harry looked like he wanted to turn Dad into a toad when he showed up this morning. So I am betting you vented a little last night."

"Well, that's what he gets for letting them continue to serve me whisky instead of switching me to water." Dean said with a laugh. "If I did, I don't remember it. Besides, Harry can get away with it. I can't. Not sure I want to chase him off after all." 

"I'd... kinda like to keep him around." Sam said. "I'm no where near over it, ya know but... there's a chance we could have our dad back. But if you need to vent at him... vent. He took it from me last night."

"That's why he's still here, Sam. Because you want him and I'm undecided so that tips the scales in your favor." Dean said with a sigh as the frisbee returned in Max's mouth and he threw it again. "I don't even know that I want to have it out with him. Or just leave it alone. That might be better."

"It's up to you. He isn't what you expected, is he?" Sam asked. He knew his brother had an idealized version of John. Seeing this broken man, who seemed to be undecided if he wanted to suicide by bottle or by demon had to be hard for him.

"No, he's not." Dean said with a sigh. "But hey, I'll get over it. Disappointments and heart ache build character right? Isn't that what Oprah told you?"

"Dean... " Sam said and sighed not sure how to approach it really or if he even should. "It's just... losing us... He had nothing to hold on to, to keep him sane... or... sober... It doesn't excuse everything... but... it's probably been harder on him than us all these years."

"Great, so if he had kept us with him, I would have been responsible for his sanity and his sobriety along with everything else?" Dean said before he could stop himself. "Whatever, Sam. Look, what's done is done, right?"

"No.. it isn't." Sam said. "As long as it hurts... it isn't done." He wasn't just speaking of their father either. "If it were... then Mom's death wouldn't keep eating at him, Jessica wouldn't haunt my dreams and you would be willing to let go of Melissa."

Dean gave his brother a glare at the mention of Melissa's name as Max brought the frisbee back over. He was silent as he threw it again across the yard for the pug to chase after. "I thought," he said slowly, deliberately, "that we agreed that we wouldn't discuss her. Ever." 

"What's that going to solve, Dean? She is dead and still hurting you. Dad and I... we can't escape the grief. So it hurts to see you still affected by it when it might be possible to change it. One man in this family deserves to be happy. "

"She's not hurting me. I'm fine. What will it take for you two to believe that?" Dean demanded, meaning Sam and Harry. "Dude, her head got detached from her body in front of me. I'm not supposed to be affected by that? Nice, man. Real nice."

"Yeah, you are supposed to be affected. It's supposed to fuck with your head. But hanging on to that ring... to the spell... it's not healthy. If it were me in your place, you wouldn't let it go either. Hell, you would have done what ever it took to fix it whether I wanted you to or not. Why should you expect less from me?"

"That's different, Sam. Don't ask me how, it just is, okay?" Dean said, a warning edge already appearing in his voice. "Sam, I don't want to fight with you. I don't want to fight with Harry. But I am NOT going to messed with magically anymore. That's the end of it."

"Dean you are constantly being messed with magically." Sam told him. "Fine... I will come up with something that will make you a magical null zone. Where nothing magical can touch you... will that work? And for the record the only difference is that you are the one under the spell... a spell that doesn't want you to undo it."

"How do you know? Do you have her books? Is there anything left of her lab? No and no. So you don't know." Dean said. "I don't want you to do anything, just leave it all the hell alone, okay? My decision. Got it?" His voice was raising. Why didn't they just get it?

"It's not you making the decision. It's part of the spell. You won't even let me make you safe from magic... because it would fuck up the spell. You want to still love this woman? After all she did to us you still WANT to love her. I don't believe that Dean. Especially not knowing that it's not real."

"Sam, it's me. And you have to drop it. Now. For the rest of my life because I am so sick of hearing about it every other day! You think working your mojo will improve my life? Sam, I wasn't that happy a camper before this happened. Now you need to shut up about it or I swear to God I will knock you out where you stand."

"You weren't always on the edge of an explosion." Sam pointed out. "And you weren't grieving. It... it eats at me okay. The fact that that bitch did this to you bothers me. You're my brother.. being oldest doesn't mean I don't get to care about you just as much as you care for me."

"Fine. Your reasons make sense. But lay off." Dean said. "I mean it, Sammy. Lay the hell off of this. This isn't your decision to make, and doing it behind my back to exact control over me is just as bad as what she did." This was his punishment, the crushing grief. Because of him, Sam had nearly been killed.

"I'm not trying to control you Dean. I'm trying to make sure you can control yourself. If I hadn't been stupid and gotten caught, I could have ended this without you ever knowing it existed. Best laid plans and all right? God, Dean...how can you expect me to let this go? She used black magic to bind you... it's an abomination... and now that I know what it feels like to ... to see someone you love die horribly... I can't ... there is no way I can let you go through that when it's... "

"When it's what? Go ahead and say it Sam. When it's fake. Well, how the hell do you know that? How do you know that I wouldn't have fallen for her anyway, and the moment you remove this spell, I'm right back to square one?" Dean said, yelling at his brother. Enough so that Max conveniently forgot about the frisbee and went in search of a rabbit instead. "It's better that everyone thinks it's one big trick on Dean, especially for me, all right? Now I told you to drop it, and I mean drop it!"

"No. I'm not going to drop it. If she had given you the chance, you might have fallen for her." Sam began, not seeing his father and Bobby coming out the back door. "But she didn't and you didn't. It's not a trick, Dean. It's not something that you can just put to the back of your mind and forget. It's evil wrapped up in magic and forced down your throat."

"Shut the hell up, Sam. You never liked her. I get it. I completely blew the engagement announcement. I get it. I apologized for that!" Everything was reaching a boiling point with Dean. Melissa, her death, seeing Jessica up on the ceiling, flashbacks of his mom, Sam and his pain, Harry and Morgan just waiting to chop his head off too, their father's return...how much was he expected to take? Especially when no one in his family would let him have any peace on any thing. And when Dean boiled, eventually it had to come out. And it did come out, through his fist across Sam's face. Wasn't the first time he'd ever hit his brother, they were brothers after all. Why couldn't Sam just leave it alone?

Dean hit a little harder than he normally did, although Sam knew it was a good deal more gentle than it could have been... but that didn't keep him from hitting the ground. He looked up at his brother. "Yeah Dean... it's cause I didn't like her. " He said sarcastically. "Has nothing to do with what it's doing to you." He got up. "And the fact that you even think that's true... proves my point." He started to walk away.

John stopped Sam on his way inside and looked at the bruise forming on Sam's face. "It's nothing." Sam grumbled and headed inside.

John didn't agree. He didn't like this one bit. Dean was too well trained to go and lose it on Sam of all people. "Is that how Justin raised you?" He asked sharply as he approached his older boy.

Dean turned and looked at John. "Don't even start." He snarled at his father. "Stay out of this, you have no idea what's going on. Because you weren't there. Not your fault, whatever, but you still weren't there."

"So that give you the right to hit your brother, and no one can say word one to you?" John asked. "I know the kind of training you have, son... he raised you to be a killer, and now you get under pressure and you start hitting your brother."

"I punched him. Once. And not even that hard." Dean shot back. "I told him to back off and he wouldn't. He just keeps...picking. You know what, I don't even know why I'm explaining this to you. You have no idea how or why I was trained like I was."

"I've seen enough. The awards, the things Sam has told me. You've had to register because of that training, haven't you?" John said. "And you hit him hard enough to send him to the ground, Dean."

"You hit anyone unexpectedly, chances are they'll fall." Dean said. "Look, I'll apologize, I do feel bad about it. I'll bring him ice, a beer, and I'll smooth it over." He was planning on that anyway. He did feel bad about it. The moment he'd connected. "But my life is not your business. Not anymore."

"You're out of control." John said calmly, even though he didn't feel it. Even though Dean's words hurt. "Next time you might not pull that punch. Because it's not you - it's the spell. You wanna live the rest of your life controlled by some external force, I guess I can't stop you. But you get it under control." He said a little more firmly. "You wanna hit something, you pick a better target. Do you think I didn't feel overwhelmed? You think I didn't feel angry and helpless? Never once did I hit you boys. And that's exactly what it equates to. You may not care for me, you make hold the past against me. That's your right. I can't do a damned thing to change that. But what happens to Sam... that is my business until HE tells me otherwise. So grow up and keep your damned hands to yourself."

"Sam's not a child. Hard to reconcile that in your mind, I know, what with the fifteen YEAR lapse. But he's not a child. It's completely different." Dean said, stepping up to his father. "And who's a better target? You?"

"It is the same damned thing!" John yelled. "Because you can kill without even working up a sweat, Because sam is a wizard not trained in combat the way you are. But if you need to be violent and you think you're man enough to take me, bring it."

Dean looked at his father then turned and started back into the house. That cut John more than anything. Like a rejection, a sucker punch in the gut. Like he had come straight into a wall that surrounded his eldest son. And if he didn't get over it now, he never would.

"Don't you walk away from me!" He said.

"You taught me how." Dean said as he kept walking.

John strode over to Dean and grabbed him by the arm turning him around. "No. You are not going to run from me anymore. We're going to deal with this."

Dean wheeled when his father grabbed him, his fist following shortly after. His father was right. He had had to register himself as a lethal weapon. There was a reason for that, he was. This wasn't Sammy, he wasn't pulling punches.

And neither was his father.

John didn't have Dean's specialized training. He didn't have to register himself as a lethal weapon. He had been a Marine for years before becoming a mechanic. He had seen combat. More than he liked to think about, and that was before he had spent the last 23 years fighting things that would turn most people's hair white. He was more than able to give as good as he got, and had more than a few tricks up his sleeve.

Some of the tricks were sneaky and low, and they got Dean. This wasn't going to be the easy fight Dean had first thought it would be. It went on for while, Bobby was at least smart enough not to get in the middle of it, just yelling from the sidelines for them to grow the hell up already! They were both knocked to the ground at different points, and both refused to stay down. They could barely see through the blood running in their eyes, their hands were numb. Until finally Dean was flat on his back, pinned by his heavier father, with John's meaty arm across his throat.

"Now you don't have to accept me as your father. I can't make you do that, but you damned well will respect me from here on out. Am I understood?" John had eaten crow from both of his sons since they had found him, over something that wasn't even really his fault. He had eaten about all he was going to.

"Yes sir." Dean said. The arm across his throat wasn't cutting off air, it was more symbolic than anything else.

John nodded and got to his feet easier than most would expect he could have after a fight like that, and held his hand out to his son offering to help him up.

Dean wiped some blood off his face and took his father's hand, getting to his feet. Strangely enough, Dean felt better. About his father. His father had just kicked his ass, and he felt better about him. "Come on, let me get you a beer." A peace offering of sorts.

"Sounds good." John said and followed the younger man inside, walking past Bobby Singer who looked at them both as if they had just sprouted another head.

"Winchesters." Bobby grumbled quietly, following the two of them back into the house.

Dean went to the fridge and got the beers. And three icepacks. "I'll be right back." Dean said, handing his father the beer and an ice pack. He found Sam and sat down next to him, handing him an icepack. "I'm sorry, dude. I really am. I don't know what happened. I just, well, I just hit you."

"I kinda noticed that... " Sam said taking the ice pack then looking up at him. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Ah...Dad beat the hell out of me for punching you." Dean said with a laugh. "Bobby just shook his head the entire time too." Though Dean's knuckles were also bloodied, it was obvious it hadn't been a one way fight.

"He what?" Sam laughed a little at that. "Did you send him away?" He asked after a moment's thought. He wasn't sure how Dean would take that. He wasn't sure how HE should take it.

"Why would I do that?" Dean said, with a puzzled expression. "The dude kicked my ass. Think I needed my ass kicked. So, I don't know, I was thinking we'd all just go out and have a little fun. Not the blind stinking drunk fun I had with Harry though. Not sure my liver can take any more of that."

Sam shook his head. "Okay, sure... " He thought it was nuts that coming to blows was what it took to break down Dean's resistance. But then again, from what he remembered of their father, it was probably a genetic thing.

Dean laughed and clapped him on the shoulder as he stood up. "Sounds good. I'm gonna go get cleaned up." He said as he left the room.

Bobby shook his head at John. "Don't you think that was a little extreme?"

"No, I don't. He needs to learn he can't just haul off and hit someone every time he loses his temper." John said. "Just cause he's a grown man doesn't mean he can't stand to learn a few lessons."

"All right." Bobby said as he handed John a wet washcloth. "Then again, he is your son. Might see a whole attitude change after getting his ass kicked. Lord knows it changed your attitude enough."

John began to clean his face and hands, laughing softly. "I guess it has." He said shaking his head. "I hope it changes in the right direction. "Sam is... strangely enough still Sammy underneath it all. I knew how to deal with him, but Dean I am still clueless. "

"Take your cues from Sam and his cousin. They're the ones that know him the best. Obviously he hasn't killed them, so they've got some secret way of calming him down." Bobby said, laughing.

"I think they normally just keep from pushing too far in the first place, but I couldn't let it pass. Hard to see him hitting Sammy -he would have shot anyone that tried when he was a boy."

"He still will." Bobby said. "Look, they're brothers. They'll fight. Dean obvious pulled the punch and stopped. If they're fine, and it doesn't happen all the time, then I think you should let it slide."

"Well... doesn't mean I want it to happen or can watch it without stepping in." John said. "He's going through a lot and doesn't have as much control as he would normally and I don't think he sees that yet." John had been there, far more than he liked to think about.

"And you can't exactly referee them. Even if you had had them for the last fifteen years, they're still adults. As much as it pains you to admit that." Bobby teased.

"I'm getting old Bobby." He admitted. "And let me tell you... I'm gonna feel that age come morning." Used to be he could take someone like Dean with a lot less effort and time. He was proud of his boy though. Wasn't everyone that could give him a run for his money, and he figured if the kid's heart had really been into the fight it might not have ended the way it had.

"Only you would be beaming with pride after nearly having your ass handed to you. For a moment there, I really thought he was going to beat you." Bobby said with a chuckle as he drank his beer.

John grinned. "Yeah, me too." He said as he sat down at the counter. "Cause you know I wouldn't really hurt him. Take the beating first." Because if the fight had escalated, the only way he could have beaten him would have been to cause harm, and that wasn't something he could ever do.

"Your boys are helluva good hunters." Bobby said. "They know to research, they know the lore. Amazing really, seeing as they were away from it for a while. But I've seen them take down some nasty stuff already."

John frowned. "They've been away from the hunt but not away from that world, unfortunately. Justin pushed some hard core training on Dean, and Sam being what he is... research is going to be second nature." He would have hoped that if they were going to be raised in this sort of environment, they would have been a bit more sheltered.

"Well, at least they can protect themselves if the demons come after them. They won't care if you raised those boys all the time or not, they'll just care that those are your boys." Bobby said. "Strange that you ended up in Chicago of all places though."

"Got a tip about a girl calling herself Meg here in town. Possessed. Turned into one hell of a trap. Devas...they would have torn Sam apart..." He frowned then. "Didn't seem at all interested in Dean or I unless we got in the way, now that I think about it. " His eyes narrowed then.

"Definitely sounds like a trap then..." Bobby said. "You think this Meg person was after Sam?" Bobby didn't have a clue why, maybe the magic thing.

"Doesn't make sense though. Who in Sam's life would know that they could lure him into a trap using me as bait? Maybe it was just that he was the one going for the flare... it just... felt wrong if you know what I mean. "

"I don't know." Bobby said, rubbing his chin. "I'll see what I can turn up. Maybe there's a demon with a vendetta against the Morningways."

"Don't say that around Sam... he's already convinced Mary and Jessica's deaths are because of him. If there turns out to actually be a demon with a vendetta he will assume it's the same demon at this point. Although it wouldn't surprise me if there was one out there with a bone to pick with Justin."

"Me either. I'll keep it quiet." Bobby promised as Dean and Sam entered the kitchen.

"Ready to go get that beer guys?" Dean said.

"I'm going to go modify my new guns, actually." Bobby said, figuring the Winchesters needed a night out, just the three of them. "Be sure to have one for me."

"I think we can manage that." John said. "I'll see you tomorrow." He told his friend and looked to the boys. "So where are going?"

"Bar I know down by the port." Dean said. Sure, he'd taken Melissa there, but he was going there before her, and he continued going there after. She'd only been there once, it wasn't tainted for him. "They've got the best domestic on tap."

"Sounds good to me." John said with a smile. He could deal with this. Going for a beer with his boys. God.. his boys. They were alive, they were healthy and well, and finally he thought they were going to give him a chance. 


	10. Chapter 10

Dean stood outside the ER as Sam came out. "You know, maybe it's the hair. You can't see what's coming at you." Dean said. His brother had turned into an accident prone klutz somehow over the last few months.

"You and Dad need to lay off the hair." He said with a faint laugh. "I'm okay. I was just grazed. A concussion but nothing major." He had been hit by a runaway car... the weird part was that the car had been parked. The parking break had given way and it had come down the drive just as Sam had been walking across that portion of sidewalk.

"This is the third time you've been hit by a parked car." Dean said, shaking his head as they walked back toward the car. Their father was at the moment in Massachusetts helping a friend out with a little spiritual problem. "Harry's convinced you're cursed. What do you think?" He asked seriously. Curses weren't anything to take lightly.

"Why would anyone curse me?" Sam asked. "I'm not really anyone important. Council in name only, don't involve myself in magical circles really. Haven't pissed anyone off that I know of." He had wondered as well about it but had talked himself out of it because he couldn't figure out who or why.

"That you know of." Dean pointed out. "Dude, it could have been some low level wizard you cut off on the freeway for all you know. How about we swing by Harry's?"

"Yeah alright." Sam grumbled. Dean wasn't going to let it go, and all he wanted to do was lay down and get his headache to go away. "It's a waste of time but fine we'll go."

"Besides, with a concussion, you're not supposed to sleep. Or if you do, we have to wake you up every hour." Dean said with a chuckle. "I could use some help in that regard." He got into the car, waited for Sam and drove over to Harry's.

Sam eased into the passenger's seat, careful of the bruises, old and new and too sudden movements of his head. "I guess it is weird that this keeps happening to me but... it doesn't mean it's a curse." He didn't want to think that it was a curse. That would mean there was someone out there using black magic that wanted him dead, in strange ignominious ways.

"Well, it won't hurt to check out that angle, right? Or it could be a prankster spirit or demon. Or you could just have the worse luck of anyone I know." Dean said with a chuckle as he pulled up in front of Harry's. "Oh hey, Murphy's here too. She'll help wake you up."

Sam groaned. Murphy was one of those people you either loved or hated, unless you were Sam, then you just didn't know what to think about her. He didn't know why, but he just couldn't make up his mind.

He got out of the car and winced. His head was throbbing. It was like a migraine on steroids, light and sound seeming much louder and brighter than it was, movement was painful. "Great... wonder what she has for Harry to work on now. Might at least distract me."

"Now you're thinking." Dean said as they headed into Harry's apartment. At least it was darker than most places, right? "Hey." He said to Murphy and Harry, who were standing there glaring at each other. "Another tiff?"

"I just have some questions for Dresden and he won't answer them." Murphy said.

"I told you, I was in Peru when Uncle Justin died. It was a heart attack. They did an autopsy. Why are you investigating this? I've given you all the answers there are, Murph."

"Something's not right with this." Murphy said and looked at Dean. Sam, she knew, had an iron clad alibi. He was taking a lit test in California. She'd checked.

Dean shrugged. "Yeah, I saw him last." He said, lying smoothly. "We had an argument, I stormed off to a bar, got a hotel room with a hot little number named Kikki..."

"Look, the man is dead, he had a heart attack, we don't need this dredged up again. Let the man rest in peace for crying out loud." Sam said irritably. "Let us have a little peace."

"I can't do that." Murphy said. "Look, I'm coming here in good faith that I could get some answers."

"Answers? The man's heart stopped. He was a bit chunky, ate horribly, and didn't drink enough red wine." Dean said.

"Well, we've got information that it wasn't a heart attack. His chest was crushed." Murphy said.

"We?" Dean repeated. "You're working this up as a homicide?"

"Crushed? My god." Sam said, managing to show sincere looking concern. "I ... wow... but... by what? I mean... why wasn't that found in the original autopsy? That makes no sense. What new information?"

"Because his bones were fine. And our former medical examiner was a raging alcoholic." Murphy said. "Look, the information is valid as far as we can tell, so we have to look into it. Dean, are you sure you're the last person to see him alive?"

"Well, no." Dean said. "I stormed out around 10 AM."

"And his time of death was put at about 9 pm." Murphy said. "You sure you didn't go back?"

"And what? Crush his chest from the inside out with my expansive mind powers?" Dean asked.

"How the hell can his chest be crushed with his bones intact? Gotta tell you Murph, even someone with my limited legal experience ... you aren't going to be able to convince anyone it was murder if the bones were fine. You can't even convince me.." Sam told her. "What information did you get? Do we need to get a lawyer? Cause so far it's sounding like someone is yanking your chain." He said as he eased into the nearest chair. "Right up there with me claiming hit and run for the driverless car that hit me."

"Okay." Murphy said. "Fine. Guess I'll investigate this without your help. Because wow, I've already seen some things that I can't quite explain. Haven't I?" She pointed out, looking hard at Dean and Harry before leaving.

"Well, that's great." Dean said with a sigh.

"What's she going to do? Tell a jury that you killed him with magic? She would get laughed out of court." Sam said, in an increasingly foul mood. He hated this. Hated every bit of it. He was hurting and his family was in danger yet again by the supposedly good guys.

"She could just make our jobs harder is all." Dean said as he sat on the couch. "Harry, I need to get to that body before they do something stupid like exhume it. He shoulda been salted and burned a long time ago, and you know that."

"I know but the council handled his funeral, didn't exactly have a say in it all things considered... and if I know Murphy... it's too late anyway."

"Not good. Although I don't see how they would have the evidence of murder. It's not possible to mundanely crush a man's heart without crushing his rib cage. What we have to figure out is who would be sending Murphy tips. It has to be someone in the know... which means the magical community." Sam was glad to have the attention off of his freak accidents.

"Could be the same one that cursed Sam into being a klutz." Dean pointed out. "He got hit by another parked car today." He said to Harry.

"It could have been a coincidence." Sam said with a sigh. "Doesn't mean it's a curse. We have more important things to worry about right now with Murphy."

"One of these times you're going to get killed." Dean said. "There's hardly anything more important than stopping it." He said as his cell phone rang. "Yeah? What? Shit." He hung up. "They're exhuming him right now. That was a courtesy visit, Murphy already had the paperwork filed."

Harry swore. "Well, nothing I can do about that now. So let's see if we can figure out if there is actually a curse or if we need to just ground Sam to the house until he can learn to look both ways."

"Nice." Sam said rolling his eyes.

"Dude, you're either the unluckiest son of a bitch in the world, which means we can make fun of you all we want, or you're cursed. Make up your mind." Dean teased. "Is there anything else that can go wrong today?"

"It already has." Harry said with a sigh. "Someone stole Bob... and then that someone was killed." Harry then went onto explain that his lady friend from the night before had managed to make off with Bob, hand cuff him to his bed, booby trap his door and then when he tried to track her down, she had been killed while he was getting a bead on her.

"Oh." Dean said. "Next time I ask a question like that, just smack me." He shook his head. "Okay, we've got a missing ghost sorcerer, a dead thief, a reopened investigation into our uncle's death, oh yeah, and Sam has no co ordination." He rubbed his temples. "I'm waiting for that annoying guy on Candid Camera to jump out."

"If he does, I am turning him into a frog. I don't care how much trouble I get into." Sam said rubbing his temples. He just wanted to sleep. The last few days had to be nothing more than a nightmare.

"I can't imagine who would want Bob. Morgan, of course, thinks I should never have been allowed custody of him and handed over this thing." He said holding out the crystal skull. "Once they take him out of whatever protective covering he is in, this thing will glow and I can get a bead on him according to Morgan of course. "

"Well, I'd trust Morgan in this one and only case. Bob in the wrong hands...the knowledge inside him...that's wicked dangerous." Dean mused. "I'd say she was planning on hocking it, but she did booby trap your door...so...guess that's not it. If someone wanted Bob for something, it would be for his knowledge of black magic. Certainly wouldn't be for his overly charming personality."

"Yeah I know. I'm worried about him." Harry said. Bob was sadly enough his best friend. The one he had always been able to count on. After all, apparently even Murphy had no faith in him, even when he had an iron clad alibi. So much for friendship there.

"Okay." Dean said. "You and Sam work on Bob and what's up with all these accidents. I'm going to the morgue to cause a scene. An outraged family member is expected, and well, I'm the loose cannon."

"Be careful. You are the only one with out a concrete alibi." Sam pointed out. "And Murphy looks like she just wants this thing out of her hair as soon as possible."

Dean smirked. "I'm also the only one that the Council will go to war for if I get accused of anything." Dean said. Sam, they'd give amnesty within the depths of the council, keep him hidden from prosecution. Harry, well, given the circumstances they might leave him out to dry. But Dean? Dean was non magical. And this was a magical matter. They had strict rules on involving 'civilians' in their matters. Whether Murphy would ever know it or not, this was their matter. If Dean got pulled into it, he'd get cleared some way by the council.

And a part of him wanted to see Morgan's face when that came to pass, too. As a warden, it would most likely be his responsibility to make it happen.

"Don't trust in the council too much Dean." Harry pointed out. "They aren't the good guys they claim to be, no offense Sam, they might be the ones behind this...trying to get rid of me through mundane means."

"They've got no reason to get rid of me. I haven't come close to violating any of their treaties in years. And they all love the money I funnel to them." Dean said with a shrug. "It'll be fine. Besides, Murphy doesn't really believe I did this, or she would have cuffed me right here."

"She doesn't have any evidence. Doesn't mean some cant be provided after all someone managed to convince them to reopen Justin's case when it was open and shut heart failure."

"Dude, she comes near me with handcuffs, I'll have so many lawyers on her ass, she'll be buried in paper work for months." Dean said with a laugh. "I got this. You figure out the other thing, I'll come back when I'm done. If you get a lead on Bob, call me and I'll meet you there."

"Be careful." Sam said, and leaned his head back. "God I just want a nap. I swear I won't die in my sleep, I couldn't get that lucky." He said with a groan. His entire body hurt. The first time he had been hit, it busted two ribs, and bruised his hip. The second time he almost got out of the way in time and it clipped his leg, bruising it badly. This time it actually hit him, and it was blind luck that he was knocked to the side and out cold on the sidewalk, instead of actually pinning him beneath its wheels.

"Don't let him sleep." Dean said as he headed out, driving toward the morgue and bursting into the doors, ignoring the police and attendants who tried to stop him. "What the hell are you doing, Murphy?" Dean demanded, stopping cold when he saw his uncle's unearthed coffin. "What are you doing?"

"Getting a second opinion. What are you doing here, Winchester?" Murphy asked, not liking this at all. She liked Harry, she really did but he was hiding something and she could smell it a mile away. Dean she wasn't so sure about, but obviously he couldn't manage what she thought might have happened. He could operate electronic devices after all.

"You dug up my uncle's corpse. Out of a consecrated grave. You expected us to let that slide? That I would just sit home and not say shit about this? Why can't you leave him in peace?" Dean demanded as the attendant went about opening the casket anyway, anxious to get the show on the road and back to his dinner break. "Oh god." Dean said, covering his mouth and looking away. He'd seen plenty of decomposing corpses in various stages. But this was his uncle. It was different.

"We aren't desecrating the body Dean, just double checking the autopsy findings. Wouldn't you want to know if someone had murdered the man?" She asked. "I was given to understand you and your brother were close to your uncle. Don't you want to know the truth?"

"He had an autopsy already!" Dean said. "I signed a paper and let them cut him open and poke around. Then they sewed him up and I brought him a nice suit. Then we buried him. I thought that was the end of this. Why can't you just leave him alone? The other guy said it was a heart attack. You going to dig up all heart attack victims now, just in case? Your job that slow, Murphy, that you have to torture my family?"

"This isn't about torturing your family, Dean. I like Harry, you know that. But someone up hill from me got a lead that Dresden was involved in Morningway's death and we have to investigate. Once we take a look at his chest, we'll know what we are dealing with, run a tox screen on him again. It won't take long and I promise it will be done with the utmost respect."

"He wasn't even in the country! I couldn't reach him for several weeks." Dean said. That was the official story. "He wasn't here, so how could he do anything? What are you doing?" He demanded of the attendants who were moving Justin to the examining table. Xrays were first. "What are you doing? Can't you leave him alone? When he was alive, everyone wanted a piece of him. And in death, seems it's the same thing."

"Dean... calm down, we have a court order, and everything. I promise your uncle will be returned to his resting place as soon as the tests are done. Look... would you rather have someone else heading up this investigation? Someone who didn't know what kind of man Harry is or how tight your family was?" She asked. "Because to be honest the only thing I can prove is Sam was in finals week and not here. And you and Harry both had a lot to gain. Not saying you did it but it's going to be investigated... it might not look so good to someone else. So stop riding my ass about it."

"This isn't right." Dean kept repeating as they moved Justin to an examining table, his skin blackened and slack in places. It hurt, way down deep, to see Justin like this as Dean watched, eagle eyed, as they X-rayed the corpse. "You know this isn't right."

"Dean... it's just a body. I know It's the body of someone you love, but he isn't in there anymore. It's okay." Murphy said, feeling sorry for Dean. He was being sucked into this when the evidence seemed to point at Harry, even though it was little more than an anonymous tip and the man clutching a photograph.

"When this is over with..." Dean said, swallowing hard, "I want him cremated. So you guys can't pull this again. Where do I sign for that? Where's the paper? This is NOT okay." Two birds with one stone, really.

"You cant just yet." She said. "Because until this investigation is over with, you and the rest of your family could be considered suspects." She said gently. "After the investigation is done, then you can come back and arrange for cremation."

"Then arrest me right now, Murphy!" Dean demanded, holding out his wrists. "You think we're all guilty, well here's your chance. Read me my rights." The attendant started removing the clothes off Justin and Dean paled, he had to leave the room now.

Murphy grabbed the young man by the arm and lead him out of the room. "You didn't kill him." Murphy said. "There are times when I think you are capable of a lot of things, but this isn't one of them." She said quietly. "That doesn't mean people other than me won't think you did... or that they won't think Harry pulled it off some how. Now just let me do my job, get some answers and put this case to bed, alright?" She saw a lot of emotions in the young man's eyes when looking at the body of Justin Morningway. Hatred wasn't one of them, and if she had learned nothing else over the years of working with Harry Dresden, it was that kind of magic took a lot of anger and hatred. She couldn't see Harry capable of it either but she had been wrong about people before.

"Why can't you people just leave him alone?" Dean asked again. "This isn't right. I know, I'm repeating myself, but Murph, he was resting as peacefully as he could. Now he's not. Fine, fine. Just...just do your job, Murph. None of killed him. His life did. The stress, the pressure, it all finally came right down on his heart."

"Dean... we aren't hurting him... he isn't going to come back because we exhumed him. More likely to happen if he were murdered and we didn't, don't you think? Now why don't you go and take care of Sam, he wasn't looking so good when I was there earlier. What happened?"

"Sam got hit by another parked car." Dean said. "Someone's fooling around with something heavy." He sighed. "I don't know what to do, Murph. My uncle is exhumed and you all are going to cut him into pieces to prove or disprove something, Sam's suddenly cursed with bad luck of a deadly kind...I'm gonna blow. Gotta warn you, I'm feeling overwhelmed and I'm gonna blow. Try to stay clear?"

"Just go on home. I'll come by the estate and Dresden's when I have something to tell you." She told him. "You don't want to watch the autopsy, trust me. Go home, Dean."

Dean gave her a long look, but decided she was right. One wrong off color comment from the attendants and he was bound to go off. "Just make sure they treat him with respect." He said. "And we'll be at Harry's." He'd stop off and get his dog, but they'd be at Harry's.

Murphy nodded and turned to go back to the autopsy. This day just kept getting better. She wondered if it weren't too late to go back to bed and call it off due to lack of interest.

Dean got outside the morgue and took a couple of deep breaths. Then he headed straight to Harry's. "They're autopsying him as we speak." He said, sinking into a chair. Seeing his uncle's decomposing body, knowing they were going to fillet him like a fish was getting to Dean.

Sam came out of the bathroom, covered in little pink dots. "Well... it's not like there is anything they can find to use in a mundane court." He said, trying not to scratch. "Dean do you remember if I have ever had chicken pox before as a kid?"

Dean tried not to laugh. He really did. "Uh...no, you didn't. I had it, but it was before you were born." He said and went to the fridge to get a beer to cover up the fact that he wanted to laugh. Hard. His baby brother had chicken pox. "So, uh," he said, still trying not to laugh. "Still think you're not cursed?"

"Dean, this isn't funny!" Sam exclaimed, going to take a seat, almost having to sit on his hands. "It's worse than poison ivy." He gave a growling sigh. "Who would want to curse me, Dean? It's crazy."

"So's a grown man getting hit by parked cars and getting a childhood disease." Dean said, chuckling. "I don't know, try oatmeal and calamine lotion. Just don't scratch it. You'll spread it to other parts. I can't believe you have chicken pox."

"I know it doesn't make sense but who would want to curse me, Dean? " Sam asked and sat on his hands. "And don't say the word scratch."

Dean chuckled and grabbed a pair of oven mitts off Harry's counter. "Come on, you can't sit on your hands all day." He said and slipped the mitts over his brother's hands and taped them to his wrists. "Any sign of Bob?"

"This is humiliating." Sam said looking at his hands.

Harry shook his head and went back to pacing. "No, nothing. " He was worried about his friend, worried about not only his well being but what could be done with the knowledge that was locked up in that skull as well.

Dean shook his head. "Dammit." He said. "Okay, well, we gotta find Bob. Sam's contagious, so he can't go out, maybe he can run some research for us."

"Gotta give me at least one hand for that, Hard to turn pages with mitts" Sam said.

Harry nodded and pocketed the crystal skull. "Stay here." He told Sam. "I'll put up the protections before we leave, maybe that will keep you from accidentally killing yourself while we are gone. "

"Just stay in the chair." Dean said with a laugh. "Come on, I've got Max in the car. She hates it in here, I think it smells funny to dogs. Or maybe just her."

"It's probably Mouse, he's pretty territorial." Harry said with a shrug. "Or it could be the asafetida." He said as he untaped one of Sam's hands. "Don't ... you know.." he admonished and followed Dean out.

Dean chuckled, but managed not to say it. "Okay, Bob is missing. I'm going to assume the Council is on it, whatever info is in his skull is pretty dangerous to them in particular." He said as they got in the car. "So I don't know, let's start with where you met the girl. Maybe we can backtrack her from there, find out who she gave Bob to." Because good old magic wasn't working, then maybe good old hunting would.

Harry nodded. "She's a waitress at the diner down the street." He told his cousin. "But I called and she hasn't come in for work today. Well guess that's obvious since the tracking spell fizzled spectacularly. A shame too... "

"Okay, so we'll find out where she lived and start from there." Dean said. "Get a trace on her phone line, that sort of thing. We can do this. Or on the other hand, it'll just keep us busy and our minds occupied while we wait for them to display their hand."

Harry nodded. "You know... I have to wonder if all this is connected some how. I know our family is a little nuts but... a curse, Justin being dug up and Bob stolen all around the same time? That's a bit much even for us."

"That's what I've been saying!" Dean said. "I'm not a big believer in coincidences. And all this stuff happening at once? Come on, someone's out to get us, a little at a time. We just gotta figure out who."

"That's the question. Who." Harry said with a frown. "They seem to be hitting Sam the hardest. Makes me wonder if Justin and Bob aren't just distractions."

"Well, those are pretty big distractions. So who hates Sammy?" Dean mused. "Best I can come up with is Branwen, really."

"Do you think she hates him enough to risk a death sentence? Cause curses are on the no go list."

"Dude, she think he killed her only child. Yeah, I do." Dean said. "Besides, it would be hard to prove. They're all so...normal. Parking brakes give out. Things fall off buildings. People get chicken pox, even adults."

"Yeah, I know." Harry said. "Okay... so we start investigating Branwen. See if we can figure out how she went about cursing Sam so we can break it."

"Wouldn't be hard to get samples of him. If she'd been collecting them over the years." Dean said. "Or have someone get them now, anyone in the hospital after the first incident. That one could have been done directly. I could kill that woman." Messing with his brother like that. That was not allowed.

"Well, let's make sure she is responsible, before we go off plotting murder." Harry said. "Okay, so ...you work your magic on the restaurant manager and I will sneak in and get the girl's employment records see where to start looking for Bob..."

"Well, this at least I can do." Dean said as they headed into the restaurant. Dean talked with the manager. Her co workers. Regular patrons. Buying Harry plenty of time to get into the employment records, and pick up a couple of phone numbers for himself. Options never really hurt after all.

Harry slipped out of the office and went to the counter to pick up a cup of coffee to go. Wouldn't do to be seen in the place without having a good reason after all. Never mind that he could use the caffeine at the moment.

Dean grinned at Harry as his sandwich to go was brought out for him. He had to get something too, right? Then he slipped out and waited for Harry. "Apparently she was a very naughty girl." Dean said. "Figures she'd end up in bed with you, right? Lots of talk about some older man who was 'keeping' her, if you get my drift."

"Well that certainly wasn't me." Harry said with a laugh. "Older yes, keeping, no." He frowned. "A man huh... hmm wonder who that could be since Branwen is pretty much a solo act as far as I know... and I know she wouldn't share."

"She might just be working with someone to cover her tracks." Dean said. "But it's something. More than we had. You get her address?"

Harry held up the paper and read off the address. It wasn't too far away, and not exactly in the best of neighborhoods, but it wasn't a slum. "Well who ever was keeping her wasn't doing it in style, but definitely above a waitress's means."

"That was smart. Anything else would attract attention really." Dean said as they got back in the Impala and headed to the address. "Okay, not bad. Think I've dated women who live in this neighborhood. Yeah, that building over there looks familiar. So I musta been in that one over there."

"Dean... it isn't dating when you bring them home, sleep with them and don't remember their names two days later."

"It's...speed dating?" Dean said with a chuckle. "And I don't bring them home. I go to them. So much easier. Otherwise Max chews their shoes, isn't that right, Max?" Dean said, reaching into the back seat to scratch his dog's ears.

"You have one seriously jealous dog." Harry said with a laugh. "Speed dating... " He shook his head. "Okay... let's go." Harry didn't need lock picks to get in anywhere. It was a nice little cantrip that he had learned early on.

Dean put Max down once they were in the apartment. Max was good at sniffing out things, so he often let her. He went through some drawers. "Well, she was being kept in cash. Pretty much untraceable really."

"Well that's just great." Harry said in frustration. He continued searching, not even sure what he was looking for. "Whoever her sugar daddy was, he's probably the one that got her to kidnap Bob."

"Got an envelop of large bills here." Dean said. "Can you do anything with it? I can fingerprint it, I guess, but it would take a while. And that would only work if Sugar daddy was in the system somewhere."

"Easier with Bob, but yeah I can do something with it. Let's get back to my place. I don't like leaving Sam alone too long right now. "

"Murph should have the preliminary results too. Between that, and Sam probably managing to break his leg tripping over Mouse, it's a helluva day." Dean said with a sigh as he pocketed the envelop and whistled for Max.

"Don't say that." Harry said. "Right now Mouse could take him." He told Dean as he went to the passenger's side door. "We'll get this back there and I will see if I can find out who handled it."

"True." Dean said as he slid behind the wheel and headed back to Harry's. "Sam? You still alive? You're not scratching are you?"

"Don't say that word." Sam growled. He was in the kitchen with Harry's antiquated coffee pot on the stove. "How did it go?" He was going insane with the itching. To think parents actually wanted their kids to get this when they were little. Probably to keep them from dealing with it in their twenties.

"Went good." Dean said. "Harry's gonna see if we can find her sugar daddy. And, uh, Sam? How about you back away from the soon to be boiling water? Just for my peace of mind."

Sam groaned in frustration, but moved away from the stove just as the glass pot exploded. He dove to the floor to escape the flying glass, but landed on his wrist wrong.

"Told you!" Dean said. None of the glass hit Dean. It should have, but it didn't. He raised an eyebrow at Harry. "Come on, where'd you hurt yourself this time?" Because he just knew Sam had to have hurt himself on the way down. It would break pattern if he didn't.

"Wrist." He said as he rolled over on his back. "Damn it." Sam swore and moved to get up not using his wrist at all. "Well, only one hand to scratch with now." He grumbled, then groaned curling himself around his arm.

"That's it, look on the bright side." Dean said. "I think you broke your hand. You're gonna have to come up with a better story than homicidal coffee pot for the girls. How was research going before that?"

"Don't ask." He said in a contrary tone. "Just take me to a different emergency room this time please." Sam was as embarrassed as he was hurt. "Then I can go to sleep on the pain meds and wake up when this curse is lifted... that's a hint you know Harry."

"More like a moral imperative." Harry answered.

"Oh, so you finally agree that you're cursed?" Dean said, shaking his head. "Come on, we'll have to hit one out of town. But with the chicken pox, you're guaranteed quick service. Harry, let us know if you come up with anything."

"Will do." He said. "Drive safe, you don't know how far reaching that curse is." Harry said worriedly. "I'll see what I can come up with to keep him safe in the mean time."

"Will do." Dean said as he led Sam to the car. "If this curse takes out my car, I'm going to be really unhappy. Like loose cannon unhappy, random acts of violence, whole nine yards." He said. "Hey, you think Branwen could be doing this?" He asked suddenly. Wanting that first reaction and not have Sam think about it.

Sam frowned. "Normally I would say no... but... maybe." He hated to admit it. While he and Jessica had been together he had come to care about the woman. He hated that she blamed him for Jessica's death but then ... so did he so he didn't exactly blame her. "I don't think this is mean to kill me, Dean. I think it's mean to make me wish I was dead."

"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of." Dean said as he headed out of town to a hospital Sam hadn't been to yet. "We'll figure this out, or come up with some way to block it. Hey, that thing you were talking about for me, making me a magical null zone, would it work for this for you?"

"Yeah... it would take away my ability to use magic as well." Sam said, not sure how he felt about that. It would be like taking away his sight or something in a strange way. Although if he had to he supposed that he could deal with it long enough for Harry to find a way to break it. "I will if you will."

"Sam..." Dean said in an aggravated tone. "Why does it always come back to this? I'm not in any danger. I'm not covered in bruises, I don't have a broken arm, and I don't have chicken pox. They're really not comparable." 

"Not the point." Sam said as he shifted uncomfortably. God he was tired of hurting and it seemed that every day there was another two or three wounds to add to the list.

"Very much the point." Dean said. "Look, it's just to keep you alive and awake until we figure this out, then we lift it. Hopefully it will be done quicker than a blink. Come on, Sam. We're running out of hospitals."

"So why won't you try it... for just as long as I do it?" Sam asked. "No longer." He figured a few days free of it and Dean would be thinking clearly again.

"Because I don't trust you to put it back if that's what I decide." Dean said. "You've been after me for years over this." But his brother was so bruised. And trying so hard not to scratch. "Fine." He agreed, shaking his head.

"Dean... I won't do anything against your will, I swear." He said and meant it, even though it would break his heart to remove the protection when his own were removed. "Let's get this hand set and then we'll see if Harry can manage it for us. I have the spell already worked out."

"Fine." Dean said. "The quicker we get you safe, the better I'll feel. Promise you that." He said, shifting in his seat as well. "We'll figure this out."

They made it back to Harry's 4 hours later, with Sam's arm in a cast, fractured in three places. He was drugged, and crabby but he was alive, and anxious to get on with things, so he presented the plan to Harry, who nodded.

Sam was good. All it took was someone to nearly kill him half a dozen times to get him to find a way to convince his brother to finally go under the no magic shield. "Besides, this way it protects you in case they decide to go after you to get to Sam." He pointed out to Dean who still looked reluctant.

"Yeah, whatever." Dean said, grimacing. He still wasn't comfortable with the idea, he still hated it. But it would only be for a little while, right? "As long as Sam's safe."

"Okay, let's do this." Harry said as he followed Sam's instructions, agreeing whole heartedly that with the curse as it stood, Sam shouldn't be practicing magic at all. It wasn't a quick and easy spell, and it took a lot out of Harry to cast it over two at once, let alone a magus. But eventually it was complete and Harry sank into a chair with a sigh. "Okay.. that should stop the near death experiences for a while."

"You sure it worked? I don't feel any different. Sam here told me I'd be ready to burst into a song and dance about sunshine and puppies, and well, I don't feel any different." Dean said.

"No I didn't." Sam said. He felt different. He felt very different, and very vulnerable.

"It's not a happy pill, Dean. Just breaks the magic for the time being. How you feel about taking that ring off and putting it up for safe keeping?" Harry asked figuring it would be the telling point.

Dean scowled. "Uh, no." Dean said. But...it was for another reason. His own reason, that had been a part of him as long as he'd been alive. Because someone was telling him to. "It's safe where it is, but thanks." None of the defensiveness in his tone, the threat of violence if that issue was pushed.

Harry nodded. He knew Dean well enough to know the difference. "How you doing over there, Sam?"

"I feel freaking naked." He said getting up to pace figuring it was safe enough now.

"Dude, image not needed." Dean said. "You're still contagious though, so it's not like you're going out and about. Oh hey, while you were in the ER I went across the street." He tossed a large bottle of calamine lotion towards his brother's good hand.

Sam caught it and laughed a little. "It must have worked, you didn't break my nose with it." Sam said with a sigh, and headed toward the bathroom with the bottle in hand.

Harry watched him go. "That's gonna be hard on him." He confided in Dean. "Cut him some slack for attitude till this is over."

"I cutting him slack. But treating him with kid gloves is only going to piss him off more." Dean pointed out. "Any word from Murphy yet?"

"No but it's only a matter of time." He said with a sigh. He wasn't looking forward to it at all. He was tired of this thing hanging over his head, from the council and now with his friends.

"Look, if she gets the crazy idea to arrest you, I'll confess." Dean said. "That'll buy some time, right? I mean, not like they have anything real to go on anyway."

"What DA is going to prosecute? It was magic... not possible to crush a heart with out crushing the bone in the mundane world." Harry said. "I just... I don't want to lose another friend."

"I know." Dean said. "She feels bad about this, if it's any help. But she kinda has to follow up, since she likes having a job and all. Maybe this will all disappear. Knew we should have had him cremated. He's definitely being cremated after this."

"Amen to that" Sam said as he came out from the bathroom, covered in calamine lotion "How long does this last again?"

"About two weeks the nurse said." Dean said. "You'll be not contagious any more once everything's all crusted over, about five days. So, the more you scratch, the longer you'll be in quarantine. And did you know that nurse is a huge fan of Metallica? Sweet."

"You used me to pick up a nurse?" Sam said shaking his head. "Nice... such brotherly love."

"If you want, you can go on up to the loft and nap out." Harry suggested. He personally wasn't going to get any sleep until Bob was back, and Murphy was satisfied.

"Dude, I didn't use you. You both just happened to be in the same place at the same time." Dean said. "Go get some sleep, we'll be here." He said as he went to grab a beer, since Sam broke the percolator. "Hey, Harry, the skull thingie is glowing." Since if he touched it, it wouldn't do any good. And with the null field, might screw things up, so he didn't touch it.

Harry reached out to grab it, and nearly fell over as the vision filled him. "What the hell?" He breathed and let go of it looking at his cousins. "He's at the estate."

"What?" Dean said. "No way. I didn't take him, dude. I promise. Are you sure? The estate? Who would take him to the estate?"

"Let's go find out" Harry said as he went to get his hockey stick. "Maybe... maybe we should take separate cars." He suggested thinking about the null magic zone around Dean. 


	11. Chapter 11

He took the skull out of its protective cage and set it on the table. "Show yourself Hrothbert." He said in his usual authoritative tone, and stared at it expectantly.

Bob came out, fully expecting Harry. Possibly Sam. "I was in the middle of a nice..." He said, and his eyes went wide. If it was possible for a ghost to pale, he did. "Justin?" He asked, in shock. Looking at Justin Morningway. In the flesh.

"After a fashion." He said with a faint smile. "It is good to see you old friend. I am in need of your help. "

"You're dead. I watched you die." Bob said. He had been there, helpless to do anything since he was a ghost, when Harry had killed him. When Justin had nearly killed Harry. But Justin was here?

"Oh I died. I'm... the insurance policy." He said. "Which is where you come in. You are the only magus I know to have defeated death."

"A double?" Bob said and shook his head. "You, the double, obviously didn't get the brains of the two of you. I may have that history, yes, but currently I am as harmless as a declawed kitten."

"Ah but that is where I can help you." Justin said as he walked over to a box, something the original Justin had found long ago to put this into motion should the need arise. He withdrew the short arrow from its case, and held it up for Bob to view.

Bob looked at the arrow. He remembered that arrow, before it had become aged. When the blood on it was still fresh. "Where did you get that?" He asked, softly, never taking his eyes off it. Winifred's arrow, well, not precisely hers. This had been the arrow that had caused his transition to the darkest of magic. Doing once what this double was asking him to do again. Raise the dead.

"It wasn't an easy thing to find." He said. "You know, in some cultures the story of your love is legendary. " Justin said. "But with this... I can alleviate your curse, and you can help me with my situation. Surely you would like to be free of your tethers, able to walk the earth again as a man."

"I imagine not." Bob said, about the arrow being easy to find. "I imagine they'd want it hidden, for as long as possible." It could bring him back. "But you've got the wrong dead and damned sorcerer. I serve Harry now."

"You were always a good and loyal friend, Hrothbert, but perhaps now is the time to think of yourself, to think of second chances, and things left undone. To think of the simple pleasures of the flesh if nothing else."

It was so tempting. It was what he had dared to dream in moments when he wanted more. And it was right in his grasp.

"To bring you back...it requires a power source. A battery." Bob said.

"And there are many options." Justin said as he turned and threw the arrow, plunging it into what would have been Bob's heart if he had a true physical form.

Bob screamed as he was engulfed in light, in pain. Pain he hadn't felt in centuries. He hadn't felt much of anything in centuries. The light brightening and growing, spreading across the room.

TMATMATMATMA

"In the mansion, I don't get it." Dean said as he drove, talking to Sam. Harry was right behind them, not wanting to be in the same car as the null zones surrounding both his cousins. "Why would he be in the mansion?"

"I don't know... maybe someone is searching for something else of Justin's there and happens to have Bob with him. Would make sense... Bob knows everything about Justin and what he has." Sam suggested.

"I guess." Dean said as he pulled into the driveway, Harry right behind him. "This doesn't feel right. It really doesn't feel right." He had a good gut instinct, and right now it was screaming at him.

"I know... I just can't figure out any other reason for him to be here unless it's one of the servants but they aren't magi. Would defeat the purpose if they were." Sam said with a frown.

Dean sighed as Harry joined them on the step. "Okay, where exactly in the house was he?" Because it wasn't a 'house'. It was a mansion. And if it could be narrowed down, all the better.

"I think it was the east wing." Harry said "It was upstairs."

"We haven't been there since before Justin died." Sam said with a frown as they entered the building. "I had thought maybe it was someone looking for some of Justin's more dangerous toys but those aren't in the east wing, unless Bob is leading them on a wild goose chase, that thought is right out the window. "

"Let's hope Bob is being all wild goose chase like." Dean said as they headed up to the east wing. That had been Justin's wing. Only Justin's wing. It was where he had his office, his rooms, where he would privately entertain guests. Upon his death, Dean had had it sealed off. Well, not really sealed. But no one went up there anymore. The door to the wing was locked.

Dean didn't bother getting the key, he just picked the lock and opened the door. It was a bit musty, and stuffy in the halls as they entered the east wing. "Okay, maybe we should have come up here and opened a window or two." He said.

Harry stepped forward. "I should go ahead of you." He pointed out, hockey stick in hand. "Since I'm the only one that can combat a magus right now."

"Oh fine, point that out." Dean said with a scowl as he moved aside. Since unfortunately Harry was right.

"Harry as the voice of logic." Bob said stepping forward. "Unusual."

"Bob!" Harry said as he moved over to grab the skull sitting on the table. "Thank god you're alright." He had been worried. Bob might be a ghost but there were ways to hurt ghosts. A lot more than even the Winchesters realized. "Who did this to you?" He didn't realize that Bob was standing before him in the flesh. The thought never even crossed his mind as possible.

"Oh I'm more than all right." Bob said. Then he sighed. "I do apologize for this. But I forgot what a joy breathing is." He looked contrite as he stepped forward. Casting a shadow that he shouldn't have had as he brought a hand up to Harry. Energy flaring out from his hand as Harry fell at his feet.

"What the hell?!" Dean said as he stepped forward. And walked into an invisible wall.

"Bob? no... you can't be Bob...Bob is a ghost." Sam said as he moved as close to Harry as he could get, which wasn't close given the force field.

"Not any longer." Came another voice... another voice that should not be attached to a living body.

Dean paled, his freckles standing in stark contrast to the rest of his face. "Uncle Justin?" He said and rubbed his eyes. He must be exhausted. He was dreaming this whole thing. Next Melissa would walk through the door. He'd seen his uncle's body. Freshly dead AND decomposing.

"After a fashion." He said as he lifted Harry into a fireman's carry. "You boys have done well... he will be proud of you both." The doppleganger stated. "We should be going Hrothbert. Time is of the essence."

"Wait!" Dean said and slammed into the force field, ending up punching it to no avail. Bob nodded at the Justin double.

"We should be." He said. "I'll be seeing you boys, I'm sure." Bob said as he followed Justin out.

Dean looked at Sam. "Is the side effect of this magic null zone thing hallucinations? Because I saw his body at the mortuary."

"That's not Justin... I don't know what it is but that's not Justin." Sam said shaking his head, over and over again. "And there is no way that's Bob. But that thing thinks it's Justin and it has Harry." He said looking around the room trying to sort out a way to get out of the room with his magic removed.

"Well, great. Glad we got that settled." Dean said as he paced. "What do they want with Harry? You know what, never mind. We need to get out of here first."

TMATMATMATMATMATMATMATMATMATMA

Bob looked around the mortuary as Harry was laid on a metal table. "This is the only way?" He asked the doppleganger.

"I'm afraid so." He answered. "There are very few wizards with enough power to be the battery for this spell. Samuel would have done as well, but I think under the circumstances there is a symmetry to utilizing Harry. Although Justin will mourn his passing."

"The deal was that Sam would be used." Branwen Moore said, as she stood in the room. She wanted him dead, even if it couldn't be by her hand. After all the suffering that boy had put her Jessica through, he deserved it.

"And you cursed Samuel." The doppleganger stated. "Which in turn Harry nullified by making the boy untouchable magically. You have no one but yourself to blame. Quite foolish really."

"It can be undone easily enough." Branwen said. "That boy is responsible for the death of my daughter. He deserves to suffer."

"Enough." Bob said firmly. "We have work to do." He looked at Harry. "I am sorry about this. But...things have to be done."

"Bob..." Harry said, still groggy, and unable to move more than a little. "What... why?"

The doppleganger turned to glare at Branwen. "Be silent woman. For once in your god forsaken existence shut up. You and Justin can ... discuss what is to be done about Samuel when he rises." Not that he thought for one moment she would succeed in her cause. Justin had plans for Sam and Dean that surpassed everything, including his love for them.

"Shh." Bob said. "It will all be over soon, Harry. Symmetry, really. You killed him, and now you're going to give your uncle life."

Harry couldn't believe that Bob of all people had turned on him. Bob had been his with him since he had been a child. His mentor, his teacher, and he had thought his friend. He turned his head away, not wanting to see it coming. "Just keep that bitch away from Sam. She's done enough damage already."

"Oh I wouldn't worry about her for much longer." Bob said softly as he raised the hockey stick, channeling his own power. He'd forgotten how immensely powerful he had been as a mortal, until he felt it charge from within him and through the hockey stick. Toward Harry, through him, toward the open casket.

Harry writhed in pain, feeling his life force sucked from his body, still he wouldn't look at Bob. It was worse than the betrayal he had felt at Justin's hands. He couldn't believe it was happening. Part of him wanted to believe that this was a nightmare, or that it was all an illusion. It wasn't Justin and Bob.

When it was done, Bob simply dropped the hockey stick and turned toward the casket, seeing the corpse stir and reanimate. "Welcome back." He said.

Justin rose from the casket and took off the split jacket Dean had chosen for him, momentarily lamenting the loss of his best suit. He strode toward Harry and looked at him on the table. It was obvious there was very little life left in the younger man. "There was no one else?" He asked, even though there was no accusation in his tone.

"I'm afraid not." Bob said, and there was remorse in his tone. "Branwen here took Samuel out of the running by cursing him to such an extent that he has a protection spell around him. It was possible we could have used Dean, but he also has that same spell on him. So, really, there was no one else." Bob said, intentionally raising the real Justin's ire at Branwen.

Justin's doppleganger strode stoically to the coffin and climbed within, turning to an aging corpse the moment his head hit the pillow.

"You would endanger my nephews?" he asked, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the aging blonde. "What in creation made you think that would be at all acceptable?" He asked, giving a regretful look to Harry. Even in spite of the fact that Harry had killed him, he still cared for his nephew.

"Acceptable? From the man who just leeched the life out of one of said nephews?" Branwen scoffed. "Samuel is responsible for my Jessica's death. Oh, I forgot. You weren't here for that. You've missed a lot. It's been five years."

"Harry's not going to last much longer." Bob said, looking over at the paling man.

Justin walked over to Harry and stroked his hair gently. "This will be a cross I will bear for some time to come." He said. "But we all have our crosses." He knelt down to pick up the hockey stick. "I would have thought you would have learned a little more class by now, Harry." He said and turned on Branwen, aiming the stick at her.

"What are you doing?" Branwen demanded, backing up. But Bob grabbed her, so she couldn't get away. And so she couldn't try to deflect what was about to happen. "We had a deal!"

"And you endangered my family. You cursed my nephew. Now you will give the other one life." He spoke the words of the spell, and lightening erupted from the stick, arching through Branwen and Bob, then into Harry.

Branwen screamed as the life was literally sucked out of her, and siphoned into Harry. Bob, Bob was collateral damage, being a restraining device. Soon, Branwen and Bob fell to the ground. Branwen lifeless, Bob holding on. "The curse...died with her." He assured Justin as Justin untied Harry.

Harry slid from the table, moving past Justin without a word and going to his friend. "Bob." He said. "Come on... stay with me... you gotta stay with me."

"It had to go this far." Bob said weakly. "Had to see it through. You were never going to die."

"I know... Don't leave me... okay? Come on... you can pull through this." He tried to focus his energy, trying to give some of it over to his friend.

"It's all right." Bob said. "Everything's all right. With your uncle alive...the doom is lifted. Sam is free." He gasped. And without further drama, died.

Harry curled around Bob, crying for the loss of his friend, for the guilt of having lost faith in him. It was another loved one lost because of Justin. Harry wasn't exactly sure he should be grateful that he was alive or infuriated. It had cost Bob his new found life, and taken him from the old life that he had with Harry. This whole ordeal with Justin, a rouse to get his body exhumed was costing him Murphy as well.

He rose slowly, and turned to face his uncle as Bob's body faded away into nothingness. "This changes nothing between us..." Harry said in sharp tones, edged with grief, to the man that he still loved as much as he hated him.

"Of course it doesn't." Bob said from behind them. Materializing as a ghost. Looking completely unchanged. "But perhaps we should dispose of the body, and go let Samuel and Dean out of the room before you two rehash the past?"

"Bob!" Harry said whirling around to look at the ghost. "You're back!" He smiled brightly, then turned to Justin. "You're not getting him back. He's passed on to me and that's where he's going to stay." Justin had used Bob for the last time. He went to the table and picked up the skull. "You're right. We need to go get Sam and Dean..."

"Harry.." Justin started.

"Go to hell." Was Harry's simple reply as he went over to Branwen's body. "Never a freaking Warden around when you need one."

"Once cursed, always cursed." Bob said. "I was dead anyway." He said with a shrug. The wardens wouldn't let slip him being mortal again. "But perhaps disposal, free the cousins, then argument. Agreed? Before the mortuary attendants return?"

Justin strode forth and extended his hand over the body, speaking in Latin, as the energy flowed from his fingertips over the woman's dead body. She faded into nothingness, and Justin strode toward the door. He paused to look over his shoulder expectantly at Harry.

"Well, let's go Harry." Bob said. "Or else Dean and Sam will think things are worse than they really are. If they're not bad enough. And Dean...he's got quite the temper you know."

Harry nodded and strode out of the room. "You guys brought a car, I hope." He said hating that he would be traveling with Justin but he couldn't very well risk the man getting to his cousins before he did.

The drive back to the mansion was tense. And silent. The walk back to Justin's wing was equally quiet. Except of course for the sound of Dean attempting to bust through a wall.

Bang, bang, bang. Slam. He was almost through. It was taking a while, but it was their only option really.

"Sam, you could help me out you know." Dean said. "I don't know, clear some of the debris away with your cast."

"Or you could wait for me to break the spell." Justin suggested with a faint smile. Leave it to Dean to try and go through a wall... a wall of all things.

"How are you... " Sam said and shook his head. "This is insane"

"Yeah... it's nuts but it's true." Harry said, glaring at the wizard as he cast the counter spell to the force field.

Dean watched as the force field came down in a light glimmer and stepped toward Justin. And circled him. "I identified your body. Twice." Dean said. "Someone explain. Because right now, I'm getting upset." A myriad of emotions was coursing through him. His beloved uncle was back from the dead. The same one Harry had killed. The same one that had lied to him about his father's death. Dean didn't deal well in confusion.

"I was dead... but due to certain machinations I am no longer dead. No I am not a ghost, nor am I a monster waiting to kill everyone in sight. " Justin said, and scowled at Harry as the younger man gave a detailed description of what had transpired.

Dean nodded as he processed everything. "Okay." he said when Harry finished. "At least I was right, Sam was cursed." He said, giving his brother a quick smirk. "But you." He said to Justin. "This has been a year of miracles. Did you know our father was also alive?" He asked, far too innocently as his green eyes narrowed.

"Now that is a miracle." He said, admitting or denying nothing at this point. He had thought John would have killed himself long ago. What on earth did that man have to live for? "I take it you have found him. "

"Oh yeah, once I found out the body you identified and had cremated looked nothing like my father. Senility, Justin? Because he really looked nothing like him." Dean said. "So you've had your double holed up here for five years? Wow, a lot has happened in five years, really could have used you at some point. Jessica, Melissa, demons, the works."

"I couldn't afford for you to kill the doppleganger as one of your monsters." Justin said' "As for your father, there was no other way to give you closure. He left you with strangers and took off to chase his demons. The people you were with contacted me, they didn't want to keep you and didn't think your father was precisely sane and given my past interactions with your father, it seemed likely that he was quite mad." Justin leaned on his ever present cane. "Telling you he was dead was the only way to give you closure. It gave you the chance to move on, not seek him out when you were too young to deal with the ramifications."

"Closure? You lied." Dean said. "To kids. That's wrong. Lying to adults, fine. Kids? No." Dean had a distinction between the two. "This wasn't about us, was it? It was all about whatever little plan you've got cooking in your head. Killing Harry's father, taking us. The training, the classes, even those stupid dinners."

"It was about getting you away from a mad man before he killed you with his neglect. It was about fitting you into the world your mother belonged to. Harry... that was a mistake. That could have been handled differently, but once you were here, it was nothing more than making sure you could step up to the plate when the time came with out an undue amount of emotional baggage. It was about making sure you were able to fit in. Whether you agree with my tactics or not, the end result at this late date is what matters, doesn't it?"

"The ends justify the means. Machiavelli." Dean said. He shook his head. "Whatever. I cannot talk to you right now, because I might slip and deck you. You of all people should know you don't want to be decked by me. You paid for the training after all." He said. He'd done good on the wall. With a little more time, he would have broken through. 

"We forgave Dad eventually." Sam said after long thoughtful silence. "We might be able to forgive you in time. But don't expect to waltz back in as the head of the family right now. Dad didn't even get to do that. Too much has happened."

"I wouldn't dream of doing any such thing. It's quite freeing to know things are in good hands." He said.

Dean shook his head at Justin. There were still a lot of thoughts he was processing. "Harry, are you all right?" He asked his cousin instead, walking past Justin to check Harry over.

"I'll live." Harry grumbled. "Ahm... look... I need to contact Morgan, as much as I love doing that. " He said sarcastically. "You guys might want to swing by so I can undo that spell since the curse is broken on Sam." Although he wished Dean would leave it on a while longer, he didn't like the idea of Sam being magically defenseless with Justin around. "Might wanna call your Dad and warn him before he comes home too."

"Oh god, he is not going to take this well." Dean said, shaking his head. "Sure, we'll swing by. Could probably use a good strong drink after telling Dad."

"You might not want to be anywhere near when John comes home." Harry said with a frown. "You're already dead in the eyes of the law and well, being brought back from the dead makes you something that needs killing on principle in John's book... not that he needed that as an excuse after you stole his sons."

"Harry." Justin sighed. "We need to put these things behind us. There is much to do in the coming months. They barely brought me back with enough time to prepare."

"NO!" Harry yelled and headed for the door. "No... I want nothing to do with anything you have schemed. I'm done with you." He said, slamming it behind him.

"Well, that went well." Sam said sarcastically. "I'm going to my room. We can call Dad from there." He suggested.

"Yeah, that should go over even better." Dean said. "Okay, we'll go there. Justin...I don't know what you want to do. If you're hungry the cook has the night off so, I don't know, there's a fridge..." He trailed off. "Let's go Sam." While he was still in control.

Sam led the way. He didn't like that Justin had plans any more than Harry did, but at the same time he wondered what they were. Why was it that Justin got to come back from the dead (literally in his case, not exaggerated reports like their father) yet Jessica remained dead? "I am seriously not looking forward to telling Dad."

Dean sighed. "I'll tell him." He said as they got to Sam's room. Dean sat at the desk and dialed the number on the rotary phone. "Hey, Dad." Dean said when their father surprisingly answered, instead of letting voice mail screen his calls. "Listen, you got a sec? And somewhere to sit down?"

"Yeah, is everything alright?" John asked. He was trying to be more diligent about answering the phone but it wasn't always possible. Sometimes he had to turn it off, couldn't have the ringer alert the demon he was coming after all.

"Yes." Dean said automatically. "No. It's all screwed up. You're sitting, right? Cause Justin...he kinda came back from the dead and all. Black magic, that sort of thing. In fact, his double was living right under our noses the whole time in his old wing of the estate. So, how ya doing, Dad?"

"Are you boys alright? I want you to pack a couple bags and head to Harry's, I'll be there as soon as I can. It's a two day drive though. " John said, without considering that his sons would say no. He didn't want them anywhere near some undead version of the devil's right hand man. He hated Justin Morningway almost as much as he hated the demon.

"We're fine." Dean said. "The guy was dead. So this house, everything in it, it's ours. We're fine. I don't think he'll hurt us. Just finish up whatever you were doing there. I'm serious, really not up to you two fighting right now."

"Dean... promise me... that you will keep your distance. He had plans for the two of you... I don't want him realizing those plans. He had to have planned his resurrection, which means the timing was planned too."

"Dad, we're fine." Dean reassured his father. "And we'll be fine. We're a little too freaked out to have dinner with him or anything. Don't worry about us, okay? We're not exactly rookies to this whole aspect of the world you know." Though the curious part of him wanted to know what those plans were.

"Yeah well it doesn't have anything to do with being a rookie or not, son. Older, more experienced men than you have fallen prey to schemes before. Just be careful. I should be home in a couple of days. You call me if you need me."

"Absolutely." Dean said. "Just didn't want you to be surprised when you got back and all." Because Justin might be asinine enough to make sure to be around. One never knew. Dean was learning there was a lot he didn't know about Justin, if he knew anything at all in the first place.

"I appreciate that, Dean. I will see you boys in a couple of days." He had made the mistake of letting the hunt come first in the past and Justin had used it as a means to take his boys. He wasn't going to make that mistake twice, especially with Justin lurking in the shadows again. Should have known the bastard wouldn't have the decency to stay dead.

"Right. See you soon." Dean said as he hung up the phone. "Okay, he's pissed." He said to Sam. "Justin might not be able to enjoy his second life for long. I mean, seriously pissed, about to drop his job out there and come home to tear his throat out pissed."

"I can't really blame him." Sam said. "Anymore than I could blame Harry for killing him the first time. On the bright side we shouldn't have to worry about getting Dad out of jail for it... Justin is already dead and according to Harry there is still a body to be buried once more... so... you probably still need to freak out at Murphy."

"No problem. Believe me, I can freak out at people right now. Easily." Dean admitted. Inside his head, it was still pretty tumultuous. "Dad said we should crash at Harry's. But you know what, this is my home. I had the roof repaired last year. I've been paying the taxes, and the maintenance, and everything else. While his double was mooching off us, at least I was productive. And all my weaponry, and training gear, and stuff for the company is here. I'm not leaving."

"In that case... as much as I hate the feeling of... uselessness... maybe we should leave that protection spell in place until we are sure what Justin is up to." Sam suggested.

"You kidding? Once Morgan finds out, he'll be all over Justin, waiting for that first sign of any black magic being used." Dean said. "Unless he's turned into an idiot, he won't go after us. So why leave yourself defenseless?"

"Because to take the spell off would leave you defenseless. You of all people should know that magic doesn't have to be obvious. Who knows what he could do ... he used Harry... he nearly killed him. "

"What he did to Harry was pretty obvious." Dean argued. "Knocked him out and all. Nothing subtle about that. "And no way I'm leaving you defenseless. You're into that whole magic thing, you said it yourself. You feel pretty darn naked right now."

"I know... but we agreed to do this together and I'm not going to break my word. I really want you to keep the no magic field up for a while. Call me paranoid but ... there it is."

"Fine. You're paranoid." Dean said. "Come on, he's not going to try anything, because he knows we're expecting it. So unless you want this spell hanging over you for the rest of your life..."

"I don't know... this is the man who went to some extreme lengths to get the three of us here to raise." Sam pointed out. "Including some heavy duty black magic used on Harry's father... I mean... why did they instantly know Harry had done it and not Justin? That makes no sense... the council over looked it... and if they over looked it there was a reason and what is to say that they won't over look something else... god ... we have to protect Dad..."

"They noticed Justin's death because he was a pretty important member of the council. Harry's father stayed outside of that." Dean said. "And there was a meeting that night that Justin didn't make. And we'll protect Dad. Doesn't serve Justin to kill Dad now, though. We're already raised. He's trained us as he planned. Dad's a complication, but one that if he goes away, we'll automatically suspect Justin and then there's no going back." A lot of Justin's thought patterns were nearly business based, in the company Dean had learned how to think like him in ways. Ruthless, cutthroat, and always looking for an advantage, the upper hand over your opponent or adversary.

Sam sighed. "I guess... I just ... I don't know who to trust any more. Didn't think either of them were capable of murder... didn't think Branwen would go insane like she did...I don't know him any more Dean... it scares me."

Dean shook his head. "Maybe we don't know him. But at least we know what to expect. He'll use us to his advantage and exploit whatever he can."

"It's that exploitation I'm worried about." Sam said. "Better to keep us out of the realm of advantageous." He pointed out, and if the man could control Dean, he could still control his financial empire as well as the magical one.

Dean sighed. "Whatever dude." He said. "I go on record in not agreeing with this. Especially when it comes to Dad. I mean, he goes after Dad, in the way only Justin can, you'll be his last defense."

"Then we put the same protections on Dad." Sam said. "But I won't leave you vulnerable to another attack. He might not try anything but we don't know what came back from the grave... it may not even be Justin really. "

"Then I say we find out." Dean said. "Be the nice nephews and spend some time with our dear old uncle. Find out what makes him tick. Besides, I'm curious as to why he came back and what exactly his plans are."

Sam scowled. "Maybe." He said. "For now, let's go see how Harry is holding up."

TMATMATMA

Harry sat down on the sofa and set the scull on the coffee table. He poured himself a shot of whiskey and downed it then poured another and leaned back against the back of the sofa.

"I had no choice, Harry." Bob said again. "Had I not assisted, he would have done it anyway, with Branwen, and then you most certainly would have died. The double was powerless, and Branwen wasn't powerful enough."

"I know." He said with a sigh. "I don't blame you." And he didn't. It wasn't as though Bob really had anything to say about it. "I don't know how to deal with him being alive... don't know how to deal with Morgan and the council."

"I'm sure the Council will deal with themselves. After all, Justin has popped back up on the radar, and he's a powerful blip." Bob said. "Though his newfound life might be short-lived once John Winchester gets a hold of his neck."

"Justin would kill him before he ever got near enough... probably plotting out the method as we speak." Harry grumbled, then frowned. "Unless there was some reason he left the man alive to begin with... I mean... he killed my dad... not like he was squeamish... why leave Winchester alive?"

"He hated John more than he hated your father." Bob said matter of factly. "Perhaps he wanted him to suffer more. He'd lost his wife horrifically, why not lose his sons horrifically as well? John took Mary away under strenuous objections."

"I suppose... it's possible I am seeing ulterior motives where there are none... it's not easy... dealing with him being alive again. It was hard enough dealing with his death. " And Harry wasn't talking about the doom over his head either. He had loved Justin... then was consumed by blinding hatred for him.

"Perhaps you should work on coming to terms with him. Forgiving him in some small way so that you can forgive yourself." Bob suggested. Seeing Harry tear himself apart like this for five years was hard.

"He murdered my father so that he could get his hands on me... how am I supposed to forgive either of us for that?"

"I don't know." Bob said. "But perhaps you should start. You would feel better, for one thing. And without having that guilt surrounding you, better able to watch Justin."

"I don't feel guilty over Justin's death... I feel guilty about my father's." Harry admitted as he poured another shot. "Don't know that I want to watch Justin... maybe it's just better if I stay clear of it all."

"Now that sounds about as ridiculous as Dean blaming himself for his mother's death. Or Sam blaming himself, doesn't it?" Bob chastised gently.

"Dean's guilt is ridiculous. Sam's I can understand... but ... Bob... he killed him in order to have me for what ever plan he had... then I wasn't good enough...My father died for nothing."

"Dean's guilt is not ridiculous to him. He feels guilt quite deeply over many issues." Bob said. He knew all three men better than they thought he did. "I don't think that was it, Harry. It was that you were too old for most of his influences, already set in your ways. He was unable to mold you as he wanted. He failed with Sam as well because he took Dean in also. He'll realize that."

"It would have worked out worse if he hadn't taken Dean in." Harry said and poured another shot. "Justin is trouble on two legs...and I still have Murphy investigating his death. She won't relent and if she finds he is still alive... everything is going to get amazingly complicated."

"Complicated is the status quo for this family." Bob said. "And perhaps you should slow down. I am a ghost after all, I can't carry you into the bathroom when you get sick."

"I'm alright" He said but didn't pour the next shot. "Sam and Dean are coming over here to get the anti- magic spell removed. "

"That might not be wise." Bob said thoughtfully. "After all, Justin is still a middle aged man. Magic is his only weapon." He didn't believe Justin would announce his resurrection to the public. That was a stock risk the savvy businessman in Justin wouldn't want to take.

"I know. I am going to try and talk Dean out of it. Sam will need to be able to defend himself but Dean needs it in place... probably John too."

"Dude, you guys talking about us again?" Dean said as he came in and took the bottle from Harry because, dammit, he wanted some too. "Dad's gonna be a hard one to convince. But Sam needs his magic, you two know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know Sam needs it... but you are pretty vulnerable." Harry pointed out. "Because he is going to want control of things, and he needs to do it from the shadows... which means controlling you." He said as he took the bottle back from Dean to pour another shot then handed it back.

"See... I told you." Sam said to his brother.

"You're all being ridiculous." Dean said. "Besides, the profit margin has INCREASED since Justin died. He wouldn't want to screw with me too much, company would lose money then if we went back to how he did things."

"It's not about profit, it's about control." Harry said. "Do you think he wants to run the council because he can make it run more efficiently? He wants control it because it's control. The corporation is control, the millions in the bank are all about control."

"Fine." Dean said. "But the first moment we know what's going on, it's coming off me." He said with a shudder. Sure, what Melissa had done was now negated...but instead of relief, he found emptiness instead. And it scared him sometimes.

"Okay." Harry said. "Fair enough. I still think we should talk your father into letting us put it on him too. John is a brick wall between you two and whatever comes your way now... he's taken that whole dad role seriously again... if Justin has plans for you he is going to try to get rid of John first, and it may or may not be a homicidal spell... it could just be something to make him go away and stay gone... or something to make him do something stupid and get arrested for it... there are so many options that is impossible to figure out what he would do... but he could do it and no one would know."

"Taking it seriously? Last time he was in town he was on the verge of reading us bedtime stories." Dean joked. "Yeah, we'll talk to him about it. See what we can convince him into. If it will spite Justin, which it will, he'll go for it. Which should probably be the approach we take in convincing him."

"That and well... it protects us too since Justin can use him to get to us." Sam added. "Dad is so easy to convince with that whole protecting us thing."

"I hope so." Harry said. He didn't have any respect for John Winchester. Hell, he couldn't stand the man, but he was important to Sam and Dean, therefore, Harry would do all that he could to keep the man safe.

"It'll be easy." Dean said. "He'll be here in a few days. Till then, I thought I'd have dinner with Uncle Justin. See if he'll let me in on his agenda. Even if it's his past agenda. Like why he had you two trained as super wizards and me as super soldier. Sure, it was fun at the time, and it's useful now, but it's got me seriously thinking."

"I know... he was up to something..." Sam said. "And he said that time was running out too... so whatever he is up to, it's coming up soon. So we don't have a lot of time to sort out what it is."

"I know. And giving him the silent treatment isn't a good idea because of that." Dean said. "So I'll wine and dine him. Who knows? He might even have something impressive to say." He said. "You two keep going through his papers, see what you can figure out."

"For the time being don't tell him where I put all of his things from the lab. I don't want him having access to that stuff just yet... you know..like Bob's grimoire." Sam said.

"You still have that thing?" Harry asked.

"He should. It's a work of art." Bob said with pride. "In fact, some perusing of it would not be uncalled for in a situation like this."

"And that's Bob. Good old Bob. Back to dead and damned, and he's back to making sure we keep an invested interest in him." Dean said with a laugh. "I won't tell him jack. Promise."

"Might want to put that thing in a safety deposit box somewhere." Harry said pouring another shot then setting it aside, he didn't want to be plowed when he took the spell off of Sam.

Dean took the shot that Harry had set aside and drank it himself. "Okay, so while you guys do your magic thing, I'm gonna go get something to eat. Takes more than Justin for me to lose my appetite after all." He said with a chuckle.

"Bring something back for me." Sam said. "Getting my magic back might bring back my appetite. "

"None for me." Harry said. Figuring he wasn't going to be hungry again for a long time. His stomach was tied up in knots, between Justin, Connie, and the inevitable visit from Morgan that he was sure was coming.

"Sam, make sure he eats." Dean said with a sigh as he headed out. He couldn't leave his dog there at the estate alone for long after all. And she greeted him at the door with her little tail wagging. "Come on, girl, let's find Uncle Justin."

Max bounced on her front paws a moment then followed after Dean right on his heels, some times running in front of him.

Justin was in the library looking though the books for something to read. There was very little he could do at this point until the boys came to their senses...all three of them. That was going to take work. he knew. He didn't entirely blame them, but they needed to understand that in the grand scheme of life, the ends truly did justify the means.

Dean watched Justin peruse the books on the shelves. Already dressed in one of his suits that had been in the sealed wings. Looking immaculate as usual. "Behind the complete works of Shakespeare are the nudie magazines if you're interested." He said from the door where he leaned against the jam. "Great...articles in them."

"Articles... doubt they are anything I would be interested in." He said with a smile. "I'm glad to see you. I assume Sam is with Harry still. Perhaps for the best, Harry seems to be distraught still."

"Of course I'm back. I live here, remember?" Dean said. "You're still legally dead, so your will still holds up, and you left me residency rights. And the articles are great. Very informative. So, why are you back?" He figured he'd get right to the point.

He went to pour himself a glass of brandy. "Because I put things into place to ensure I wouldn't be dead for long. They... procrastinated bringing me back. " He said. "Simply put... I am back because I don't wish to be dead."

"Gotta say, I'm a strong proponent of the view of what's dead should stay dead." Dean said. "You never come back 'right.' Or whole. Something gets left behind. Course you were one conniving bastard when you were alive, so I can't wait to see what you're like now. I mean, you kill Harry's dad, tell Sam and me that our dad is dead..."

"There are many ways to bring back the dead." Justin said. "Some are more effective than others, most require more power than the average wizard can manage, and all require more than any non magus. Bob was the only one in known history to succeed in bringing one back whole." He took a seat. "Tell me... would you have rather grown up with your father, never sleeping in the same bed twice, never staying in school long enough to have friends. Would you have wished that for Sam?"

"That's not the point. The point is I spent the last fifteen years being angry at the man, which fueled me. Or has your resurrection wiped clean the memory of my...bumpy adolescence? And Sam not talking for nearly a year? And let's not forget why you died in the first place. Because of your manipulations of people who don't belong to you."

"Is this your latest temper tantrum, Dean? I have weathered your storms in the past, and will do so again." Justin said lounging. "Because we both understand one fundamental truth. Blood runs deeper than anything else. You and I... we are blood. After all, you forgave your father. What did he do, beat you into submission? Figuratively speaking of course."

"Not so figuratively speaking." Dean said cooly. "I figure any man who can hand me my ass in a sling deserves at least respect. Especially after all the training you had me undergo. Sure, it was fun at the time. Now, of course, I wonder why. Why any sane man would train a teenager with a serious anger problem the way I was trained?"

"You learned to control that anger, didn't you?" Justin said. "Learned to set it aside for the appropriate moment." He shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time discipline was taught through martial training." He locked gazes with Dean, casually, but never the less, not looking away. Dean was testing the waters, much as he had done when he had first come to their home. Different technique but never the less he was testing where things stood and figuring out where he wanted them to stand. Justin wasn't fool enough to give an inch right now.

"Did I learn to control it? Or were you just having me trained to focus it in a direction of your choosing?" Dean said, not looking away. If Justin wanted to gauge his soul, he could go right ahead. "You were going to overthrow the council. And you were going to use my brother and Harry to do it. Did you really think I'd let you put him in that kind of danger?"

"Yes." Justin said bluntly, approving of what he saw in the young man's eyes, although he supposed he was should more safely guard what was in his own. But not from his own blood, not now. "Because not doing so, would put him, and indeed everyone else, in a great deal more danger." He rose and took two steps toward his nephew. "I am not a good man, ethically speaking. But there are degrees of evil to which even I will not stoop, nor shall I tolerate it."

Dean stayed right where he was as Justin approached. Dean had very little fears in the world, and even Justin wasn't one of them. "Ethically speaking? Justin, you murdered a man. It wasn't in self defense, it was greed. To get what you wanted. That definitely tips the scales in favor of 'not a good man' I'd say." He said. He'd seen a glimpse of what and who his uncle really was just then. Typical Dean, he wasn't afraid. But he was wary. Especially since it warred with the illusion of Justin that he had held onto, the man he saw when he was growing up. "Your plans are still to overthrow the council. Only problem is, we don't trust you. And you can't do it yourself. So what's your big convincing plan?"

"I suspect it will be John that convinces you in the end. Perhaps I should wait until he returns from his expedition." It galled him that Winchester had been living under his roof, that he had set one foot on the property alone was enough to make his stomach turn. "You have a good deal more trust for him at the moment."

"Well, gee, best we can tell, he's never lied to us." Dean pointed out easily. "In fact, we've pegged you as one big liar, so much so that I've got a freaking no magic spell on me. In case it was in your head to, oh I don't know, manipulate me somehow. And if you can't manipulate me, you can't manipulate Sam. Because you're smart enough to know that I would know." Justin would be able to tell the spell was on Dean, so might as well get that out in the open. Along with all it implied.

"I wasn't going to explain my reasoning to children. Are you here to pick a fight Dean, because I am too tired for any battles tonight. Perhaps tomorrow. As for manipulating you... the truth will do that sufficiently. The council is beyond corrupt. I need all three of you for the take over to work. And nothing short of a combined Morningway effort will accomplish it, so you will need me as well when the time comes."

"I'm not picking a fight. I'm drawing the lines right now." Dean said. "Your reasoning sucks too, our dads wouldn't let you have us, so you took us anyway." He said with a shrug as he picked his dog up and scratched beneath her chin. "I was just giving you the choice. Whether to even attempt to try and earn your way into the uncle title again," for even the mere attempt of it would give Justin points in Dean's book, "or whether you just wanted to be some battle commander or something equally as impersonal, is up to you."

Justin sighed. "If all I wanted was to be a battle commander, I wouldn't have waited for you to come to me." He said in a gentle tone. "Do you really think that I could pretend to care for all those years? That I could raise you to think for yourselves if I just wanted to control you when you were grown men?"

"I don't know what to think." Dean said honestly, shaking his head. "There are a lot of unanswered questions, and you're not exactly willing to answer them."

"The council is seeking a means to bring a forth an army of demons. They think that their combined might will be able to control them. Haven't you wondered why they won't let Samuel in on their meetings yet? Even though he holds a council seat?"

"So you were going to overthrow them and call an army yourself?" Dean asked. This was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard. No human, magus or not, could control a demon. Not the real demons that comprised an army. Just the parlor trick ones that weren't really demons in the true sense to begin with.

Justin actually laughed at that. "I have no use for an army of demons that the entire combined might of the council can't control. I do not have an ambition to rule the world. I don't even have an ambition to change the world. Surely you haven't decided I am a fool, I would have thought you knew me better than that."

"Yeah, well, the last few years have been full of surprises." Dean said. "I'm hungry." Not a big surprise there. Dean guessed by the time he hit middle age, he stood a good chance at being 500 pounds if his activity level slowed down even an iota.

"The cook thinks that I am a cousin at the moment. Easier than explaining to the poor dear that I'm back from the dead. Why don't we go and see what she has available?"

"She'll probably be overjoyed she gets to cook for someone." Dean said with a laugh. "I get take out usually. Maybe some breakfast." It was true. Although a huge eater with a big appetite, he wasn't very demanding when it came to Margot, the cook. "So what's the plan, oh dear cousin? I mean, I've completely teched up the company."

"I am sure that makes it easier for you." Justin said. "I'm not taking the company from you. I died and you received your inheritances. It's as simple as that. I have my own finances, I am not in any way destitute."

"Well, good. Because I kinda like the company." He said with a chuckle. His own little piece of the universe. Okay, so between that and hunting, he slept maybe two hours a day normally. But he enjoyed it. "The council's gonna know you're back, you know."

"I know. Not a lot they can do about it. " He said casually. "Except give me my seat back... preferably the one Harry refuses to take. It will be harder for them to exclude Samuel now that I am back." He added. "But that is neither here nor there at the moment. They will have to lift the doom over Harry now, which is good. "

"Yeah. Morgan's been waiting to chop his head off." Dean said, his jaw momentarily tightening at the memory of Melissa being beheaded in front of him. The spell might be lifted right now, but someone was still decapitated in front of him.

"Morgan is a pit bull. The council is looking for ways to eliminate our presence from their rolls. Unfortunately for them, Sam is as pure of heart as any Magus can ever be, therefore they can't justify eliminating the family seats."

Dean agreed with the assessment on Sam. "If anything was going to make Sam go dark, it would have been Jessica's death." Dean said. "Speaking of which, why were you, or your double, or whatever, aligned with the woman who was trying to arrange Sam's death by accident? Dude, Sam's got a broken wrist, bruises, stitches and concussions because of that bitch."

"At the time when the arrangements were being made, she had a vested interest in the family because of Sam. Once it was discovered what she had done... well... she is dead after all."

"So is that a hidden lesson? Cross Justin Morningway, friend or foe, and you end up six feet under?" Dean asked blandly. "You ever off me, you better salt and burn me. Or I will haunt your ass. I think I'd be a particularly violent poltergeist too."

"She hurt Sam... would you have done less?" He asked locking gazes with his nephew. "Perhaps you would have preferred me to slap her wrist and send her on her way? Your father's return has certainly brought out your judgmental side."

Dean laughed. "I'm testing the waters, dude. Because you're right, I wouldn't do anything less. And I want to make sure that Sam's not in danger from you. Can't blame me. Between my father and you, my first directive has always been to protect the kid."

"I think a good deal of that comes from you as well as your father and me. Sam is ... what you hold on to." Justin said. "You boys aren't in any danger from me. Even Harry is safe. It wasn't as ... self defense as he makes it out to be. Not that I blame him. We were both to blame for that battle... "

"Well, good to see you're not playing the persecuted victim or anything." Dean said with a quick grin as they found Margot. Who was still shaken by the resemblance this cousin had to her former employer. And promised a dinner worthy of kings for Dean and his cousin. "Well, at least you made her day. Unless I'm cornered into a dinner party or something, usually she ends up making me detox breakfasts or dinner at 6 AM."

"Has alcohol become a problem for you?" He had thought that might be a problem. His father spent most of his time in a bottle of something or another, after all. Such things were considered genetic, no matter the environment. A dependancy on something to numb the anger inside.

Dean gave Justin an amused look. "I like to go out and have fun. I don't get up in the morning and start drinking. I don't feel the need to tie one all the time." Dean said. "And just for your information, the last time I went out and got blind drunk, Harry took me."

"Well I suppose it's good that you all are still close." He said with a chuckle. It had been a long time since he had been Dean's age after all. He supposed it was normal. Still something that bore watching.

"Yeah, we are." Dean said. "Happens when everyone keeps dying or leaving." He said with a shrug as Margot brought out the dinner she had prepared.

Justin waited silently as she served the meal and nodded his approval to her as he had always done in the past. He waited for her to leave before speaking again. "So is it Sam who is baby sitting Harry tonight or is Harry babysitting Samuel?"

"Probably a little of both." Dean said. "Sam's still pretty bruised. And Harry's still all shaken up from almost dying and all. Bob, he's ruing the fact that you brought him back for a bit, and he didn't even get any action." He said as he started to eat. "Might come as a surprise to you, but we've held together pretty good since you died."

"I knew that you would. I was always confident that the three of you would exceed even my expectations. " He said as he ate slowly, enjoying his meal. "And if he had handled things differently he could be out ... getting some action... as we speak. He could have saved Harry without sacrificing himself."

"Yeah, but if he did, it would give him one less thing to complain about." Dean said with a laugh. "And that wouldn't be Bob. So you're back to overthrow the council. Nice. Then what? Caribbean vacation?"

"Oh I think I have had a long enough vacation. There will be new council members to initiate, a restructuring of how things work... I will be busy for years to come." Justin said as he pushed his plate aside and finished his wine, waiting for the dessert and coffee he knew would be coming.

Dean shook his head. "This should be interesting at the very least." He said as Margot brought in the dessert. Something fancy for Justin. Dean? He got a bag of M&Ms, which he took with a grin. "Thanks."

Justin laughed softly. "Still your preferred sweet I see." He smiled gently. Some things never changed. Not that he had been gone that long, But it was a hold over from Dean's childhood that he didn't entirely understand.

"You should try them." Dean said. "I'm serious, so much more satisfying than creme brulee or whatever it is you've got. Plus, it's portable. So you want your old wing back?"

"Where the doppleganger was living? That should work nicely I would think. I will of course need all my things from Samuels lab" He knew the younger winchester had taken over the lab since returning home.

"Your things? They're Sam's things now." Dean said evenly. "We've decided since they're not yours anymore, you know, since you died and all, that we'll decide as a group, unanimously, what access you have to it." That was the clincher. With the buffer zone around Dean, he wasn't able to be manipulated.

Justin raised an eyebrow at that. "I suppose, of course if you push too hard Dean, I can always create a feasible return from the dead. Let's not make things too difficult on either side of this equation shall we?"

"Honestly, I like the company. I enjoy what I do there, I feel a sense of accomplishment." Dean said, leaning back in his chair, appraising his uncle like he would an adversary. A dangerous one at that. "But I can live without it. So go ahead, if it floats your boat. I'll just hunt full time, that's all. After all, I've already come into my trust fund."

"All I am saying is don't play control games with me. I am not a child in need of your approval for what I do and don't access. If Sam is keeping them for himself, so be it...do NOT presume to rise above your place, Dean. You are my nephew and I love you, but you are not my master, nor shall you ever be."

"And you are not mine." Dean said. "You are my uncle. I'm no longer in need of a guardian, or a supervisor, or a baby sitter. Definitely not a boss. You died, you left everything magical to Sam and Harry. Harry refused it all out of principle, seeing as he killed you and all. But you've already proven that you will manipulate and pull out all the stops to get what you want. Therefore, majority decision. That's the way it is."

"We shall see." He said non comittally. "It's not worth getting into an argument so soon. Tell me... what has happened in my absence? I remember you mentioned Jessica died. I am sorry to hear that. How did it happen?"

Dean sighed. "The demon that killed Mom." Dean said. "I barely got Sam out of there, place went up like an inferno." Just like it had when he was four. "That was right after we discovered Dad was still alive. That put us on the hunt for him, because we want this thing's head. Can't blame us."

Justin's jaw twitched, genuine emotion crossing his face. He had loved his sisters, more deeply than anyone understood. If they had understood it, then they would understand why he hated Dresden and Winchester so much. If those two had left them alone, he could have protected them, or they could have married men who were capable of protecting them. "No... I can't blame you. "

Dean cleared his throat. Even Justin didn't know what had happened that night. His father didn't know the complete story either. Harry knew because he had gotten Dean piss ass drunk, a mistake he wasn't repeating for a long time because of that. But he knew how much Justin loved his sisters, Dean's mom and aunt. As much as someone like Justin could love someone. So he wasn't about to tell his uncle that he had let Justin's beloved baby sister die.

"Oh, you'll get a kick out of this." He said in a light way. "The rest of the magical community does, at any rate I'm sure. Young witch got her hooks into me. love spell and enchantment and all. Quite a ride."

"I hope Harry and Sam were able to take care of things... they did manage to break the spell?" He asked, concerned.

"I'm sitting here a big magical null zone, aren't I?" Dean answered. Not directly, but he answered. "I'm fine. She's dead. Not like she's going to come after me or anything." Even if he had nearly gotten Sam killed.

He sighed. "I will do some research and see what I can do. Keep the null zone in tact for now though. It will serve you well, Dean. Whether you boys chose to join me in this fight or not... they may come after you anyway."

"Drop it." Dean said as he dug into his M&Ms. "You can't do anything against my will, makes you and Harry and Sam just as bad as her. Neither you nor Harry can afford that. Morgan knew, but couldn't prove, that you were messing with the black. I wouldn't give him any ammunition. He's a rabid dog on a mission when it comes to Morningways."

"Morgan doesn't know the truth." Justin said. "Chances are he won't until it plays out before his eyes and then his poor little pit bull brain will malfunction. He prances happily for his masters and attacks on command. I'm not worried about Morgan."

"That's probably not smart. He's handy with a sword." Dean said with empty eyes. He knew how handy Morgan was with his sword. "But hey, maybe he'll take a vacation or something."

"A sword alone isn't enough to defeat everyone." Justin pointed out. "Ah..." he said, realizing what had most likely happened. Dean had that look in his eyes. The one that he had as a boy when he had thought of his father. "Don't worry. I can handle Morgan if I must."

"All right." Dean said, not wanting to press the issue, because it would open doors to places he still didn't want to discuss, spell or not. So instead he caught Justin up on what was happening with the company. Justin's former vice president, Donald, had proved very helpful. And though the board liked to gossip that their CEO didn't do anything, since he was hardly ever in the building, he was a constant presence on line, and had eyes and ears in every department.

Justin nodded appreciatively. "You've done well with the corporation. I am pleased." He said sincerely. "I chose wisely when I decided to leave it to you. I always knew you had it in you. You will do great things for the corporation and the family."

"I've got the added ability you didn't have." Dean said with a shrug. "I'm not tied to the office, I can telecommute. So they never know when I'm going to pop up. Besides, you know what? It's fun completely pissing off your old business associates. The ones who like to call me Sonny and Junior."

"Those old cronies should be retiring soon," he said, "and when the wounds have healed and you have an heir to pass it down to... he won't have to put up with them." He said with a faint laugh.

Dean laughed with him. "Heirs? Nice. Wow, that would mean calling a girl back, wouldn't it? Wait, why am I even entertaining the subject? I'll just find nephews or cousins somewhere. That way I can get past the potty training stage. I'm not even sure I like kids." Not that he had much experience with them.

Justin laughed. "There are other Morningways out there in the world. Distant relatives, really- to you anyway. My cousin's children etc. That could be brought in to the fold. Of course if Sam stays in Chicago it wouldn't be so hard to groom his children for the position... it really should be started early. Otherwise the outside world interferes too much in the hows and whys. Sadly I doubt there will be any more Dresdens, and given his taste in women... I don't think any offspring would suitable." He said with a laugh.

Dresden had weakened the family line, Justin was sure of it. Winchester strangely enough had fortified it, although he would never admit it. It was probably nothing more than the difference between a 2nd rate stage magician, and a marine. Winchester understood discipline, and passed that on to his sons. Dresden had been soft, and that softness had passed on to his son. As much as he loved Harry, the man was his greatest disappointment.

"I don't know, got a while before I even have to think of it." Dean said. "I mean, you started with me when I was thirteen. Not even ten years later I was running it. So what's too late? Seem to have a wide margin of error for that."

"True... I hope you have a will made out. If you are hunting, I would hate to see things left in probate should something happen to you. I know you are well trained, but... things still happen. "

"I've got a will." Dean said. "Everything goes to Sam and Harry if they outlive me." Dean said with a shrug. "The Impala goes to Sam. The company...well, I'm leaving it to them with the option of selling with trusteeship, so they don't have to work if they don't want to. Not that Harry will take the dividends right now anyway...maybe if it was from me rather than you, he would."

Justin wrinkled his nose. He didn't like the idea of the corporation he had spent his life building upon, the corporation his father had created being sold out from the family, trusteeship or not. "Well, at least things are covered."

"Don't plan on dying soon. Maybe when I do, I'll have an actual heir or protege or something." Dean said. "Well, let's go see what the wing needs. Not sure what the doppleganger was using...especially for sheets and stuff. Like I said, no one's been in there for five years."

Justin nodded and rose from his seat. "Very well."

TMATMATMA

Sam looked up at the door of Harry's shop as it opened and Murphy entered. "I take it the autopsy is complete?" He asked.

"Can you give Harry and I a moment alone please?"

Sam looked to Harry to see what he wanted before committing either way.

Murphy rolled her eyes. "I'm not arresting anyone, Sam." She assured him. Even though he towered over her, with the bruises, and the cast, she had to stop herself from calling him Sammy and offering to make him lunch.

"It's alright." Harry said and Sam sighed, then made his way toward the stairs, heading up to Harry's loft. "So... no arrest warrant... guess that means you found out it was just a heart attack after all."

"Funny thing. First autopsy showed definite trauma to the outer vessels of the heart, as if his chest had been crushed. Had the warrant all drawn up. but...I had them recheck the findings. And that trauma wasn't there." Murphy said. "Another weird, messed up thing happening around you."

"Had the warrant drawn up huh... just... assumed that it was me that crushed his heart...all the way from Peru. Gotta love the faith you have in me, Murph." Harry said, as he started to stride toward the back. "Want some coffee or you think I'm going to poison you with it?"

"Harry..." Murphy said with a sigh. "Come on. This is making no sense to me. And I don't know who authorized the warrant, I don't make them out myself. That's the DA and a judge. All I know is this isn't making any sense to me. Nearly like you were set up for some reason, then they backed out...I don't know. And I would love some coffee. And an explanation, but I know I'll at least get the coffee."

Harry sighed in turn. "You wouldn't believe me if I did explain. It's... complicated." He said as he poured them each a cup of coffee. "You remember when Sam's girlfriend died out in California?" He asked.

"Yeah, in the fire." Murphy said as she sat down with her coffee. It had been a tragedy, Jessica had been so young and vibrant, she was surprised Sam was doing as well as he was. Or at least able to pretend he was doing as well as he was. The first few days, she hadn't been sure he'd make it.

"It was her mother making the trouble." It was an easy enough statement. Since it was true after all. "I don't think Branwen has been ... well... since Jessica died. She started out creating a stir at the funeral and has gone on from there. I got on her bad side somewhere along the way and I guess she decided to go after all of us. "

Murphy sighed and hunched over her coffee. "Harry...I'm trying to understand your world. I really am. But my rules don't make sense there, and I need my rules."

Harry nodded. "I know. I wish there was some way to make things easier. People are people the world over, Murphy. Wizards just have different weapons and extra weaknesses."

"And apparently different rules." Murphy said, shaking her head. "What am I supposed to do, Dresden? I'm being manipulated in a game I didn't even know I was playing."

"I understand that... I guess I had just expected you to have more faith in me." Harry said with a sigh. "The rules... aren't so much different as self enforced. With the rest of the world unaware... it's the only thing we can do."

"Faith?" Murphy said With a small, bitter laugh. "I withheld evidence from you. Hoping you'd tell me the truth and it would be logical. Reasonable. Your uncle had a fingerprint on his cufflink. It wasn't his. It was yours. You were there. You lied to me. Straight faced over and over. Don't talk to me about faith. You weren't in Peru."

"You don't really want to know Murphy... you don't want to know about my world, and that was what you were asking me about. I have touched those cuff links a thousand times. I have touched everything in that house a thousand times over. But yes... I helped him With his cuff links that night. We argued that night. We argued and he had a heart attack and died. I wasn't in my right mind then... you see... I had just found out he had murdered my father to get custody of me... so... when he went down and stopped breathing, I turned around and walked away."

Murphy shook her head. "I don't want to hear about me not trusting you. Ever again." She said. "Because you don't trust me." There were things he wasn't saying, she knew that. And she didn't want to know. "The investigation is closed. Dean's free to cremate the body."

"What do you want to hear, Connie? That I got into an argument With him, that I figured out he had murdered my father, suspected he had done the same to Dean and Sam's father? We argued, we fought and I killed him With black magic in the heat of emotion and no small amount of fear for my own life? What good comes from something like that, Murph? What good comes from tell you something that would just make you see me as a monster?"

Murphy was silent for a moment. A long moment, where the tension stretched nearly to the breaking point. "I was twenty four. New to the force, I was still on the beat actually. One step above writing parking tickets. And there was this man, wanted.. Rape, murder, all sorts of things I have nightmares about." She said softly, staring into her coffee. "He was loose, he had skipped bail. Not that it mattered, his lawyer kept getting him off. The victims he left alive, his lawyer would disembowel on the stand. Making them out to be whores, drunks, convincing the juries they'd asked for it. We found him. He started to run. He was unarmed. And I shot him. Three times. He was dead before he hit the ground. My partner at the time, he backed me up, it was cleared as a good shoot. But I had known, somehow, if he had gotten off, he would have done it again. Destroyed someone else's life." She raised her eyes and looked at Harry. "I know all about human monsters, Harry. You're not a monster. Neither is Dean, or Sam. But I can't back you up if you don't let me."

Harry sighed and leaned back in his seat and explained everything, from the beginning. "So, now you know..." He said getting up to get the coffee pot and pour them both another cup.

Murphy looked up at Harry With a wry grin. "I think you better spike my coffee With something other than cream." She said. "So your uncle, who you killed With black magic, is alive again, again, by black magic. Which means some guy With a sword just had his day ruined, because he wants to cut your head off. Like some B movie from the 80s or something. And you almost died. Sam's all injured, Dean's a time bomb waiting to explode...though I did wonder what had happened to his fiancee..." She shook her head. "Okay, you beat me for most screwed up family. Hands down."

Harry got up and went for the Irish whiskey that he kept around for just these occasions. "Yeah... well... there are at least two good Morningways... granted they are Winchesters but what the hell." He said as he spiked both of their coffee.

Murphy drank her spiked coffee, grateful for its bracing effect right now. "You're a pain in the ass, Dresden. But you're not bad." She said.

"Thanks." Harry said, as he began to relax. "Although some days I wonder. By the time this is all done, I might be mad as a hatter though."

Murphy laughed. "Welcome to my world then." Murphy said. "So how are your cousins dealing With your uncle's back to life magic trick?"

"None of us trust him any further than we could throw the blue beetle out there." He said honestly. "Dean is over there testing the waters since he is currently shielded from magic."

"And part of Dean is probably enjoying it. That whole I laugh at the face of danger and smirk at the closest pretty girl thing." Murphy said, rolling her eyes. "But that takes the Highlander wannabe off your back, right?"

"In theory. I still used black magic, so I think he will still be hovering. But it should give them something more important to worry about." Harry said. "Hard to say With Morgan. He doesn't like Morningways to begin With." 

"I could understand that if the only exposure he had to Morningways was Dean. That boy has a problem With authority." Murphy said With a chuckle. "I think he needs to go out and have some fun or something. Because he's too fixated on his job."

"He... has issues... most of them With himself." Harry said. "Have you met his father? There's a real piece of work." He shook his head, still not approving of John Winchester. "No... I think Morgan knew Justin better than the rest of us."

"Everyone has different sides, Harry." Murphy said. "And I know it's hard to reconcile them all when you find out about them all."

"Yeah... it is. Justin... he was always good to us when we were growing up. It's hard to reconcile that man With the one that murdered my father, and kidnapped Sam and Dean."

"Just watch your back, Harry, okay?" Murphy said. "You're my friend, and I don't actually have many real ones." Her job precluded that. The way her job influenced the way she led her life precluded that.

"I do, Murphy... always. " He said, smiling at the admission that they were friends. "For the record... I don't have many either." Harry had to hide so much of himself from normal society, and the wizard world knew about the doom over his head and some avoided him because of it.

"Well, we're quite the pair." Murphy said with a chuckle. "You know what? Next round? Forget the coffee part of the mix."

"Now you're singing my song." He said with a laugh, and went to get the whiskey. "Anything else on your mind tonight?" He asked.

Murphy laughed. "I need something else on my mind? That wasn't big enough?" She asked. "No, other than needing an explanation for just about everything around me, no."

Harry smiled and settled into the chair once more. "Good, cause I need a vacation, I think. Might close up shop for a couple days. Take a few deep breaths before the world goes topsy turvy again."

"And it probably will." Murphy said with a laugh. "Though I'm hoping for a more hysterical topsy turvy. Like Dean coming out as a drag queen or something."

Harry laughed at that. "Yeah that's about as likely to happen as the sky turning bright green. Dean is ... definitely his father's son. His father, the former marine turned demon hunter. Although the black mail potential is great with that one."

"Oh yeah. We could take him for a ride. Make him our slave...maybe we should get him drunk and dress him up?" Murphy suggested with a smile. Delving into the ridiculous felt good after their previous conversation.

"Don't talk too loud his brother is right up stairs. Getting him drunk is gonna be harder than it has been in the past, but give him a couple of months then we should be able to get him completely plowed again."

"Gives us something to look forward to." Murphy said with a chuckle. "Maybe Sam is sleeping. I can go braid his hair." 

"It's just about long enough, isn't it?" He said. "Dean keeps threatening to cut it all off in his sleep but I think he is afraid of the retaliation."

"Maybe if we braid it, put in some sparkly barrettes, he'll cut it himself." Murphy said with a chuckle. "Things are going to work out, Dresden."

"Yeah... but for who?" He asked quietly. 


	12. Chapter 12

John Winchester shook his head as he pulled up in the long drive of the Morningway Estate. "You're up there laughing aren't you, Mary? I don't blame you." It was ironic really. Coming back to this place in between hunts now. Ironic, in a sick and twisted sort of way, that his boys called this place home, and it was really the only way he could spend time with them.

He had missed so much of their childhood. They had accomplished so much in their young lives, and he was sure they were going to accomplish a great deal more, and he knew that he could take credit for very little of who they had become. Maybe a little with Dean but nothing at all with Samuel.

He parked the car with a sigh. "Come on Mutt. Let's go see if Max has warmed up any to ya."

Dean looked out the window. "Okay, he's here." Dean said. "Where's Justin?" He asked Sam. The plan was to give their father a little breathing room. But it would be so Justin to just come in and 'welcome' John in.

"Last I saw him, he was in the library, looking for a couple of books I hid away." Sam said "It's on the other side of the house so hopefully he won't know until Dad has a chance to get settled."

"Everything important was moved to Harry's, right?" Dean asked as he watched his father get out of the car. "Wow, he made quick time from Massachussetts." He said as he moved over to the door to open it. "Hey, good trip?"

"Yeah..." John said looking both of his sons over as he came into the house. "Drove straight through." He told them, and it showed. "How are things going here?"

"They're...going." Dean said. "It's, well, it's weird. But we're...dealing. He's somewhere, so let's get you settled in."

"Yeah, better I get some rest before dealing with him. You boys sure you are okay still staying here?"

"I'm fine. The office has never seen so much of me, but that's life." Dean said with a chuckle. The poor office, so confused. There was a company policy about dress down Fridays, and even that was more formal that what Dean would stroll in wearing on a Tuesday.

"What about you?" John asked Sam, worried about the influence Justin would have on his youngest son.

"I'm good. Been helping Harry out at his office. Thinking about becoming a private investigator. You should have seen Justin's face when I told him. But it isn't like I will be able to have a normal job when the council finally realizes I'm not 12 any more."

Dean shifted his weight a bit at the mention of the council. "Come on, let's get you and Mutt settled in. Max is holding court with some of the neighborhood strays, so Mutt is safe for now." He said with a laugh, seeing as Mutt was at least three times Max's size.

John laughed at that. The battle of wills between the pug and his dog amused him. Mostly because he was certain that Max didn't hate Mutt as much as she pretended to, and Mutt wasn't as much of a push over as he pretended to be. "Sounds good."

"After you rest up, we'll hit the bar scene tonight." Dean said with a laugh. His father was the only one he knew who could outdrink him. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing though!

John knew they were trying to keep him away from Justin. The meeting would be inevitable, but John would put it off until he was rested. He needed his strength to stand up to a wizard. Even one freshly back from the dead. "Sounds good. You can fill me in on how things are going as well. I have some things to tell you, but they can wait until I am more awake."

"Will do." Dean said as Sam and he left the room to let their father unwind from the road. "This isn't going to be pretty, is it?" He asked Sam. "I mean, what were we supposed to do? Legally, Justin's still dead, this is our home. Put Dad up in a hotel? Try to make Justin leave?"

"I'm not sure there is a winning answer there. " Sam said. "Not even sure we could make him leave if we wanted to. This is a dangerous situation at best. I think our best bet is to just postpone their running into each other as long as possible."

"Thought I was supposed to leave stress at the office or back at a hunt." Dean said with a shake of his head. "Okay, I think we can keep them separated. For a while."

"So long as they cooperate, I think you are right. So... who gets first watch?" He asked, only half teasing. He knew that Justin and John would not cooperate with them at all in this. John would be itching for a fight and Justin would be more than happy to prove to the former Marine that he could stand up to him.

"Doesn't it strike you as hilarious that we, the two youngest in this entire whacked out family, are surprisingly being the most grown up about all this?" Dean asked with a sigh. "I'll take it. I'll head Justin off at the pass, I'm getting good at that."

"Because we didn't lose two children." Sam answered. He couldn't blame his father for the anger. Justin ... well he still didn't know how he felt about all of that, but he loved both of them, figured he would no matter what happened. But he could understand losing those you loved, and it was cruel to have put John through that.

"Yeah, well, I'm not used to being in the mature mode." Dean said with a laugh. "Figure I'll park myself here with the lap top, Justin won't come near me. It's a nice diversion, really, for the wizards that like me."

"Yeah, the only good part about the whole anti-magic thing while it was on me was being able to play computer games."

"Yeah, sometimes it rocks to be the non gifted one." Dean said with a laugh. "Because believe me, I couldn't do all this if I couldn't have a lap top. Then I'd be like Justin and tied to the office and bored out of my mind."

"The world as we know it would come to an end if you were bored and had magical ability. " Sam said, faking a shudder. "I'm gonna go check on Harry. I'll be back in a little while."

"All right. Check in." Dean said. That was status quo. Because of Justin's resurrection. The council didn't believe that it was Branwen's idea, orchestrated by her to get revenge on the Winchesters, Sam in particular. And Dean was waiting for fall out from that.

He was actually a little disappointed he hadn't seen more of Morgan. That was always a good diversion, messing with Morgan.

"Yeah, I will be back shortly, unless he needs my help. Then we'll meet you at the bar. I think he needs the time out too. He and Dad can find a middle ground by hating Justin."

"Oh nice." Dean said with a chuckle. "Remember all our friends who had divorced parents, and they felt like they were in a tug of war contest between their parents? I feel like that sometimes. Like Dad and Justin are just subtly tugging on us a little at a time."

Sam snorted. "Cause kidnapping us and telling us our father is dead is such a subtle tug." He pointed out. "Can't imagine why Dad is all upset at him being around."

"Dude, I meant now." Dean said. "I'm waiting for the gifts to start. And offers of really cool vacations. A few devil's gates here and there, you know, that sort of thing."

"Only you could think of a devil's gate as a gift or a bribe." Sam said with a laugh. "I'm expecting them to start vying for control actually. You know the talks about how I should really go back to college now."

"You should." Dean said with a shrug. "You liked it there, and you liked it before Jess got there, so don't start." He said. "You're the academic type." 

"I'm not ready." He said. "Besides, there is no way you can do it alone. Keeping Justin, Dad and Harry all away from each other is like... juggling with your hands tied. "

"Who says I'd keep them apart?" Dean asked with a grin. "I'm building a cage for a cage match. Throw them in, see who comes out. Though gotta tell ya, even with all that magic stuff, my bet is on Dad."

Sam laughed. "Yeah, mine too, but Dad wont get off on a murder charge as easily as Harry did. So... let's put that off for a while, shall we?"

"Damn, there goes my plans for the weekend." Dean said. "I'll have to think of some other way to entertain myself. Thanks."

"Hey, you know... what are little brothers for if not to ruin their brother's fun?" He said with a laugh. "I'll be back later." Sam turned to leave.

"See ya." Dean said with a laugh as he tossed a ball down the hall for the recently returned Max, typing on his lap top in between throws.

Justin entered the room, staying a safe distance from the computer. "Well, I see your father is ... here. How long is he expected to stay?"

"As long as he wants." Dean said as he tossed the ball back down the hall for Max and looked over reports that were being streamed to him. "He just drove in from Massachusetts, so he's sleeping right now. I've done that drive myself, it's a helluva drive."

"I would imagine so. I suppose he has rushed here to protect you from me." He said with a faint chuckle. "There is no need you know."

"No, I don't know that. And neither does he." Dean said as he looked up from his screen. "Justin, throughout my adolescence you were the one that was there for me. You never gave up on me. Most people would have shipped me off to some military school in Anarctica or something. I thank you for that. Doesn't change the fact that you spent my adolescence making me into a one man killing machine."

"And do you think your father would have had a different fate in mind for you? I dare say it would have come about with a good deal more danger and a few less teachers." Justin said "There was never a doubt that you would begin hunting as soon as you were old enough."

"You're splitting hairs." Dean said, shaking his head. "You're throwing it back on my father instead of telling me why you did it. The level of training I recieved, I didn't need to be a hunter. Believe me, I've run into several hunters with a good deal less training who are better than I'll ever be." Bobby Singer for one.

"Because they were never going to have to face demon possessed wardens." Justin said bluntly. It was time to let a few details be known. Once the boxes were all found, the wardens would be sacrificed to the demons within in hopes of controlling the demons. It would fail. Justin knew that. And that failure would be catastrophic.

Dean was silent as he shut down his lap top and turned it off, getting up and stowing it in a spare room. "Talk." He said, standing in front of Justin. "These little nuggets you keep dropping, it's not enough. Or do you want a big family meetings called instead?"

"It would be easier than explaining it a half dozen times." Justin said with a shrug. "I must admit, I had not foreseen your father's involvement. That could add a large monkey wrench into the works."

"Really?" Dean asked. "Well, hopefully for the better. Something demonic, he's the one you want on your side against it." Dean said. "Something magical? I'd pick you. So if this is both, I'm hoping you'll both be mature enough to work together."

"Mature has never been the problem." Came John's deep rumbling voice. "Trustworthy... now that has always been a problem."

"So sayeth the second rate grifter." Justin responded in kind. "I was surprised to hear you were still alive."

"Can't say I was surprised by your resurrection. Although you know... hunters have a saying... what's dead should stay dead."

Dean rolled his eyes and leaned his forehead against a wall. "Yeah. Maturity has NEVER been a problem." He said sarcastically. "I'll call Sam and Harry...can you two try not to kill each other? Or better yet, break anything in MY house?" He said as he pulled out his cell phone. "Maxie, watch them."

The small dog made her way over to stand beside John and Justin, taking a typical bulldog stance, little head turning first one way then the other.

John tried not to laugh at the image. Had to give the dog credit. She was feisty. Especially for an old woman.

"Dresden here." Came Harry's voice over the phone line.

"Can you and Sam get over here?" Dean said. "Dad's awake, Justin is up and around, and Max and I are sick of babysitting."

"There's a cure for that, you know." He said and sighed. "Yeah okay, we'll be right over."

"Thanks." Dean said and hung up his phone. "All right, everyone with something to tell or bitch about, kitchen now." Dean said and whistled for his dog. The kitchen had food. And booze. He figured he'd need both, especially the latter, by the time this was done.

Justin chuckled softly, but turned on his heal and walked toward the kitchen, cane clicking softly on the floor with every other step. 

John rolled his eyes, and limped after him. He was still tired, and he suspected he had blown his knee, but there wasn't time to worry about it. Never was.

Dean shook his head as he made coffee and pulled out a beer for himself. Waiting for Harry and Sam as he pulled out leftovers out of the fridge. "You think you two can behave without sniping for at least an hour?" He asked.

John gave Dean a warning look, he wasn't in the mood to put up with the attitude. He went to get his own beer and settled down on a stool next to the table.

Justin simply laughed softly. "Of course I can."

Dean glared back at John. "Don't start." He said to John as he heated up leftovers. "I mean it. You two have been in each other's presence for five minutes and you're already sniping. I'm babysitting. Yes, that's what I'm doing because I don't want you to kill each other. You know why? I just got you both back. There. End of story. Act your age or I'm breaking out restraints and I mean that." He said. He wasn't putting on an 'attitude,' for once he was completely honest with both men.

"I don't kill people, Dean. You know that." John said. Although he also knew that the same couldn't be said for Justin. Which was why he had hurried home so quickly to check on his boys.

"Fine." Dean said as the microwave beeped. "Then it's not too much to ask for you both to behave like adults, right?" He said as he brought out the leftovers and grabbed a plate for himself. Anyone else that wanted some was more than welcome to grab a plate.

John didn't waste any time helping himself to a plate of food. It had been a couple of weeks since he had eaten anything that hadn't come out of a convenience store. "I have been." He said glaring over at Justin. "In fact, most people would say I have been amazingly calm for everything he put me through."

"Yeah, it's when you're amazingly calm that I get worried." Dean muttered. Wondering where the hell Sam and Harry were. He needed backup dammit. At least he'd get that from Sam. Harry might aggravate them both, hoping they'd kill each other.

"Oh I hardly think I have put you through much at all. After all I wasn't responsible for you leaving them in the first place." Justin said with a sigh, rolling his eyes.

"You know... Dean wants you to continue to live this stolen life of yours. For now I can sit back and let things go. But you keep pushing buttons and you won't like where things go." John said in a deep, quiet tone, his dark eyes locking on to Justin's.

Dean glared at his plate. "Grow up. Both of you. I'm not asking you to be friends, I'm not even asking you to be that civil to each other, but right now, I need you BOTH at the top of your game. Not sniping at each other like middle schoolers." Though that cage match idea was starting to look better and better.

"I think you are asking too much, Dean, your father has always led with his emotions."

John shoved his food away lest he make better use of the knife. He had lost his sons, thought they were dead because of him, and now he had to sit there and listen to the bastard that kidnapped them bait him. This was turning out to be one hell of a day.

"Justin, shut the hell up. In fact, both of you shut up, just to make things fair, until Sam and Harry get here." Dean snapped, pushing his own food away before putting it on the floor for Max. He shoved his chair back and stalked out of the kitchen. He couldn't take this. His world had been turned upside enough without those two going at it. Sure, they had reason to, but dammit it didn't make it any easier being caught in the middle.

John was more than happy to continue being silent. He sat and stared at Justin, wondering just how much of a monster he was seated across from. The man had been in the ground for years after all. This wasn't some 13th hour salvation. This was resurrection. It gave him a small degree of satisfaction knowing that he could easily justify the man's death.

To everyone but his children...

Justin watched Dean leave with a raised eyebrow. "And we had made so much progress with the boy." He said, shaking his head as he poured himself a cup of tea.

John's jaw twitched. "There is nothing wrong with my son." He said and knew the moment the words came out of his mouth, he shouldn't have taken the bait.

Justin raised an eyebrow. "Really?" He said. "The boy punishes himself if his brother so much as trips over loose carpeting. That's certainly not my doing. And his temper? He doesn't get that from his mother's side of the family."

"In the grand scheme of things that he could have picked up through genetics or environment. I think he is an amazing young man. After all, he skipped over that whole kidnapping and murder habit. And he isn't a boy. He's a man."

"We have a lot of work ahead of us John." Justin said, sipping his tea. "It would be in your best interest to just bury this animosity you have toward me. As you can see, the boys are fine. Better than fine, they are in fact quite amazing in their own ways."

"Bury this animosity. How can you sit there and honestly expect me to bury the anger at what you have done to my family?" John shook his head. "If there is actually any reason for us to work together... I can get the job done, but don't expect me to sit here and suck it up to make you more comfortable. I can bite my tongue in front of the boys but that's about all you are going to get ."

"Done? What I've done is offer Dean the opportunity to be one of the most powerful men in the business world. What I've done is trained Samuel properly in his magical gifts, bringing him into the full circle of magic and skill. Given the right chances, he could very well lead the council himself." Justin said. Yes, he was rubbing it in. "What I've done is granted them the chance to have real lives. What would you have done?"

"What you have done is kidnap them, tell them I was dead, lead me to believe they were dead and trained them for your own personal jihad against the council. You can honey coat it for the boys all you want, but we both know the score. You brought them up for your own purposes."

"As you would have also." Justin pointed out. "You can hide behind the defense that you are their natural father all you want, but you were raising them for your little war against that demon that killed their mother. You weren't raising sons, you were raising warriors." 

"I was raising them to take care of themselves, because the demon that killed their mother was trying to get to Sammy when it happened. "John pointed out and pulled his plate back to him, to begin eating. "It wasn't the ideal life, but it was what we had to work with."

"And could have easily gotten them killed. Isn't that why you dropped them off at a stranger's house?" Justin pointed out. "Because your recklessness almost got them killed? Here, they grew up safe. Protected. Not feeling like extra baggage."

"They grew up here with a lie, Justin. Talking in circles isn't going to change that. They grew up with lie after lie, and believing they had been abandoned. Not left somewhere supposedly safe while I finished a job." 

"John, you just don't understand." Justin said. "We can argue until the lights go out about how we both had the boys' best interest in mind...but had they grown up with you, Dean could very well be a wanted felon right now. Samuel could be dead."

"And if you hadn't been killed by another man whose family you destroyed, my sons could be dead because of your machinations with the council. " 

"And you never would have known." Justin said. "So are still drinking or do you think you're sober enough to help handle what's coming up?"

"Again your fault." He said about not knowing. "I can handle what's coming. Probably better than you can. You have no idea what you people have been playing with. No idea at all."

"I have a very good idea." Justin said evenly. "No matter your opinion of me, it is still important that they be stopped, don't you think?"

"There we agree. But here's the rub. I don't trust you. I don't trust for a moment that this isn't just a means to an end for you. And you would use those sepulchers yourself if you thought it would get you what you wanted. You forget... I know why Mary didn't want anything to do with your family."

Justin looked amused. "Do you now?" He said as he finished his tea. "Well, let's hope that my nephews will be arriving soon." He couldn't bear much more time in the presence of this insufferable arrogant man.

Harry had been dragging his feet. Not because he wanted John and Justin to go at each other. Not really. But mostly because he still couldn't bring himself to look at his uncle.

But eventually Sam had gotten him into the car and they had started the drive over in silence. He hated any sort of plan or information that originated from Justin. It couldn't be trusted. Not one bit of it.

Sam wasn't looking forward to it either, but instead of wanting to put it off, he just wanted it over with.

Dean had been sitting on the porch with his dog when they pulled up. He got to his feet and sighed in relief. "Thank god." He said as he went over to the car. "They both could be dead right now, but I couldn't take much more of it."

"They wouldn't be dead. Neither of them wants the other one to get off that easy." Harry said as he got out of the car. "Otherwise Justin would have killed him long ago." His jaw twitched. Not for the first time having to rein his own temper in where Justin was concerned. 

"Okay." Dean said. "How about if I didn't get out of there, I would have killed them both?" Dean offered. "Come on, it's big family meeting time. Justin has something to say." Dean already knew what it was. "And it's big."

Harry frowned but went inside. "So where are they having their mexican stand off?" He asked.

Sam was starting to think he should be more worried about Harry and Justin together than Justin and his father. He could only imagine how he or his brother would behave in Harry's place. The end result would have likely been the same if Justin had killed John. Probably a good deal messier.

"In the kitchen." Dean said as he led them back there. Max went right to work chasing Mutt away from her food bowl as Dean grabbed a cup of coffee.

"So nice of you to join us." Justin said as he waved them to seats. And without further prelude, explained the council's plans for the sepulchers.

John nodded. "One of them has been found by Daniel Elkins." He said speaking of an aging hunter. "He rousted out a nest of vampires that had it in their lair. He has done a fair amount of research on it and has a group of us looking for the rest of them so that we can sort out how to destroy them, but I dont know that they actually can be destroyed. "

"They can be." Justin said. "If they're all together. Which brings us to the next problem. If they're all together, they have the possibility of being unleashed. This isn't something hunters alone can handle. The council has the others." 

"Then we have to make sure they don't get their hands on the last one." John said. "We'll worry about destroying them after we get them out of the hands of your council."

"That.s not going to be as easy as it sounds. Not even as easy as Justin makes it sound." Harry pointed out.

"And I'm not making it sound easy." Justin added. "You were, all three, trained for this in a way. You are as prepared as I could make you. But one failure and all is lost."

"Well, good to know there's no pressure attached to this at all." Dean said dryly. "Dad, this Elkins, can he keep the box safe for the moment or not?"

"Hard to say. He's the oldest hunter I know, which says he is one of the best. But he specializes in vampires and demons, not psycho power hungry wizards. Best to assume not. " He added with a sigh. An entire council of evil wizards... he was suddenly grateful that the damned sons of bitches hadn't been willing to take Sam in to their midst when Justin had died.

"Okay, so we'll go get it and bring it somewhere safe." Dean said. "Don't know where that is though. Here?"

"No." John said as Justin said "yes."

Sam sighed. "Here is safe." He said, hating to contradict his father. "Dean and I redid the vault last year because of a couple things we found while out hunting."

"Believe me, no one can get into that vault unless we take them in there." Dean said. Between the magical bindings and man made protections, it was safer than Fort Knox. "We just now have to decide when we're going to do this."

"As soon as possible." Justin said. "Because you never know when they are going to decide its time to move. Chances are they already know that this Elkins has the Sepulcher."

"Great!" Dean said. "Road trip!" He had to look on the bright side at some point, right? "You staying here to ward off the council, Justin?" He asked.

"I am staying here because I suspect my being a wizard will make this Elkins suspicious. Samuel might as well but he has the," he cleared his throat, having to actually force the words out of his mouth, "benefit..." made a face, "of the last name Winchester."

"Hey, I like my last name." Dean said a bit defensively. They were starting again. "Look, I'm going to go pack. Don't kill each other. Any of you."

Harry laughed sharply. No humor in his tone. "Been there done that. Although I think I'll be moving into my old room while you boys are gone." He didn't trust Justin one bit in the estate with all the possible places he could have hidden things that even Sam and Dean didn't know about.

"Good."Justin said with a nod. "It's time we start working on mending bridges."

Dean looked between Justin and Harry. "Yeah, have fun with that, Harry. Duct tape's in the garage." He said as he left the kitchen to go pack. "And I'm bringing my dog!"

Justin laughed. "Some things never change, he's still inseperable from Max."

"Yeah." Said Sam. "Except for during that whole love spell situation. Which is still in effect by the way even though she is dead. Just out of whack because Harry put a null magic spell on him. " He looked Justin in the eyes. "Don't suppose you know a way to break that particular spell do you?"

"Of course I do." He replied back, unflappable as always. "But to do it without Dean's permission violates of the codes of conduct for the white, now doesn't it? You're not asking me to perform black magic for your brother, are you?" 

"Didn't ask you to do anything." Sam countered. "I'm just looking for information." That had been Justin's answer to everything. He had known about all those dark and illegal spells simply for information's sake. "You can write it all out for me while we're gone." He said and turned to follow his brother out the door.

John went to get himself a second helping of leftovers.

Justin shook his head. "John, whether you believe it or not, I want what is best for the boys, I always have. This love spell on Dean is an unfortunate thing. But until he's ready for it to be lifted, there's not much I or anyone can do. Perhaps we can work on that with him?"

"Been trying since I got here." John said as he settled down again. "Sam and Harry have been working on it since it happened. Not sure it's going to do anything more than piss him off to push it. Only one with half a chance is Sam. But his chances go up exponentially if he actually has the counter spell available."

"Then we shall have the counter spell." Justin said. He didn't like the idea of anyone controlling his nephew, even if that woman was now dead. Even he hadn't sunk to such a low level as that. And his affection for his nephews was genuine, even if John didn't believe it or trust in it.

John simply nodded. He didn't want to believe that Justin had actually loved the boys. He wanted to believe that he had been using them, raising them for the sole purpose of using them. To believe for even a moment that he cared about them made it that much harder to deal with. Too many variables to consider, too many questions answered in ways that made Justin come out less the villain than he actually was.

Justin looked at Harry. "That will our assignment while they retrieve the sepulcher." He said to his eldest nephew. The one he had pinned such hopes on, only to come away disappointed (not to mention dead once).

"Yeah I suppose it will be." Harry said, figuring he would watch over Justin's shoulder while he worked out the whole counter spell. He didnt trust him not to come up with some way to twist it to get control of Dean. "I'll go and get some of my things when they leave."

Dean came back down the stairs, having packed for himself, his dad and his dog. John was easy to pack for, he hadn't unpacked. So Dean just grabbed the bags. And went to the fridge to get a couple of travel ice packs. "So which car are we taking? And how big are these sepulchers anyway?"

"Bout the size of a smallish chest." He said, holding his hands out to indicate 12 by 24 box. "Can fit in the trunk of the Impala nicely unless you have redone it majorly. If not, it goes in Sam's lap."

"Nah, haven't overhauled the trunk. It was set up fine." Dean said. He'd just added stuff to what was already there. The Impala was a better choice than the truck anyway. Three grown men and two dogs after all. This was going to be quite a trip.

"Then once Sam is ready, we're on our way. I'm gonna sleep the first leg of the trip though. Didn't really sleep much after getting here." John said honestly.

"I'll drive first leg." Dean volunteered. In fact, they'd have to fight to get him out from behind the wheel of the Impala, truth be told. "I'll call you, Harry." He said, he'd be checking up and updating his cousin regularly.

Sam entered the kitchen, duffel bag in hand. "Ready when you guys are." He said looking to Dean and John.

John rose and went to gather his own bags that Dean had brought down for him.   
"I'll be here when you call." Harry said.

"So, yeah. I'll be, you know, in touch." Dean said. Awkward to say the least, leaving Justin with Harry. Not like they had a choice, really. If Justin tried to pull something, Harry would be the only one who could stop him.

Justin raised an eyebrow and made himself another cup of tea. "He certainly is the worrier of the family, isn't he?"

"Yes he is." Harry said. "Or at least he is the one that shows it." He had the feeling that John worried as much as his son, just with less obvious tells.

"I always believed half, if not more, of Dean's problems were more anxiety related than actual true anger related." Justin said. "Tea?"

"Yes, thank you." Harry said. "And yeah, it is. But he is also the sort to take on that anxiety head on. Not a cowardly bone in his body. At least not where he is concerned." 

Justin brought the tea pot over to the table, along with another teacup for Harry. "I know. He can be quite fearless." Justin said. "This will take all of us to accomplish, Harry. We have to learn to put differences aside for the time being, minor and major, to make this work."

"I'm here." He said. "The rest is going to take time." Harry wasn't going to set things aside to the point of making a foolish mistake and trusting Justin too much.

"We might not have the time, Harry." Justin said. "I'm not saying forget about everything. Just bury it for now, because this will require our full attention. We're taking on the council. That's not a small undertaking."

"I will do what needs to be done, but I cant pretend that none of it happened, Justin. Thats asking too much."

"Yes, I killed your father. I went about it the wrong way. I should have just sued for custody when you were much younger. And I should have done the same with your cousins. But, Harry, really. You killed me. Pretty much in cold blood. That should make us approach even."

"There was nothing cold about it." Harry said. "It was all white hot rage. You took away the one person I loved. The one person that loved me. You killed him just as we were getting things on track. You want to talk about cold blooded? You plotted the whole thing. You worked out the best way to go about it. Stole his property and killed him . I watched my father die, and you think we are approaching even? Not even close." He said. "And if you think for one minute that I will let you do anything to anyone else I care about you are mistaken."

"I will do nothing to harm either Dean or Samuel." Justin said, insulted at the insinuation. "They are my nephews, just as you are, parts of my beloved sisters who were gone from this world far too soon. And I care deeply for all three of you on your own merits as well."

"You didn't care about us. You wanted to possess us. You wanted to take us away from our fathers because you have this skewed perception that they took your sisters away from you. Guess what... they left on their own. They left because of love, and you spat on that love, even though you say you loved them yourself. You didn't care about anything or any one but what you wanted." 

Justin shook his head. "Think what you want." He said. "I can't convince you otherwise, and I don't have the time to either. You have an image of me in your head that I can't compete against, Harry."

"Yeah, the image of a murderer and a liar. Hard images to get out of my head. My god... I loved and trusted you. Do you have any idea how much it tore me apart inside? "

"I never denied that I handled everything wrong." Justin said. "ANd for that I am truly sorry. Along with the murderer and the liar is the one who supported you. Listened to you. Taught you."

"If you hadn't been those things too it wouldn't have hurt to have killed you. But in all fairness you were trying to get rid of me pretty hard core at that point too. Don't sugar coat it now. I found out... and you had to take care of it."

"The intention was to knock sense into you." Justin said evenly as he stirred sugar into his tea. "I was hoping to not have to kill you. However, the more aggressive you became, the more the choice was taken out of my hands."

"You talk a good talk. But the actions... the history of deception, and the level of plotting and scheming through out our lives is ... well it blows me away. Thats not what you do to people you love, Justin. You don't use them like that."

"Had I faked my affection for you boys, I could have easily had Dean trained at a special school. You and Sam at another kind of special school. Popping in now and again to check your progress. But I tried my best to give you boys some semblance of family. Where you weren't living out of a suitcase or in the backseat of a car. Stability. Knowledge. Power. Family."

"You couldn't make us love you from a distance." Harry countered. "You couldn't possess us from a distance. I was happy living out of a suitcase with my father. I was happy. There was nothing wrong other than it didn't fit your plans. "

"Your father didn't appreciate your power. He couldn't comprehend it. You would have grown up wild, undisciplined. Gotten into far more trouble than you can conceive." Justin said. "You would have been lost long ago had you continued your existence with him. He couldn't understand the power and the abilities that course through you with every breath. He was a second rate illusionist at best."

"My father saw through you." Harry pointed out. "He saw trouble and wanted nothing to do with it. He told me people would want to use me for what I could do... and he was right wasn't he?" He shook his head. "It was all or nothing with you. You didn't offer to train me... to work with my father in what I needed. You had to have me. Had to take me away from him."

"Your father would hear of no such thing, so it wasn't an option anyway. He wanted it closed down in you. And you know that's impossible." Justin said. "Might as well cut off an arm. So I chose rashly, and I chose harshly. But the ends justify the means."

"No, they don't!" Harry nearly shouted. "Not when the means are murder and kidnapping." He wished he could say he didn't believe he was hearing this. The trouble was, he had expected it.

"We will never come to an understanding on this, I see." Justin said calmly as he sipped his tea. In direct contrast to Harry's emotional state. "Like I said, I never expected us to. But right now, it's important to bury it."

"Like I said," Harry told him as he sat down once more, "I'll do what needs to be done to keep the council from unlocking those sepulchers and letting their demons loose on the world. Beyond that... I really don't see that anything needs to be buried or pushed aside."

"We are still family. And I am still alive." Justin said. "Once the council is overtaken and their plans foiled, a new one must be put in place to ensure stability in our world. You know that as well as I do."

"I am sure Sam can sort out how to lead that one up." He said locking gazes with Justin. "And the only person less suited to the job than me... is you." He knew that was why this had all been done to his father, to the boys. Because Justin wanted control of the council. He wanted his coup.

"Samuel has a lot to learn still." Justin said, meeting his gaze. "He's not ready. He will be, in time. But not now."

"At least he wouldn't be going at it in search of his own power." Harry said. "More than I can say for you. This whole demon thing... is just an excuse. It's like slavery in the civil war. A rallying point and great PR but that's about it."

"Of course. Saving the world from demon hordes is wonderful PR. I should have thought of that sooner." Justin said. "I've never hid my ambitions to lead the council, before I even knew of the sepulchers I never denied it."

"Let's tell the truth and shame the devil." Harry said with a grin, having figured a few things out along the way. "The reason you didn't send Dean away, was because you wanted him to know... to truly understand the wizard world. Because you were training him to take on the wardens. A well placed anti-magic spell on a boy that loves you because you stood by him and you have a one man killing machine able to take out your obstacles to Ancient Mai."

"You're only half right." Justin said. That did factor into it. But Justin did see much of his beloved sister in her oldest son. Whether Harry wanted to believe it or not, whether he could believe it or not, he did have genuine affection and love for all his nephews. "Your cousin was also hell bent on being a hunter like his father. It prepared him in that realm also."

Harry sighed. The saddest part of all was that he could see it. But to him that just made the betrayal all the worse. He loved them... they loved him... and he used them anyway.

"Harry, none of us can change the past." He said. "All we can do is decide what we want the future to be."

"Forgetting the past is the surest way to make sure that it's repeated. I don't want a repeat of the past. "

"And living in it, dwelling on it, is the surest way to squander the future." Justin added.

"I'm not dwelling on it. " Harry said. "Just because I won't instantly put it aside, let you off the hook, doesn't mean I am dwelling on it."

"Fine." Justin said with a sigh. "At least you're being civil. I give you credit for that."

tmatmatmatmatma

Sam looked over at Dean and shook his head with a faint smile. Their father lay snoring in the back seat, Mutt curled up with him. Max was settled on the front seat between Dean and Sam. "To think we couldn't convince him there was room for one dog in the car when we were little." He found it amusing.

Dean laughed and scratched behind Max's ear and then opened a soda. "Yeah, well, there were a lot of things we couldn't convince him of back then." He said. "Knew he should have slept more at the manor." He said as he reached back and readjusted the icepack on their father's knee. 

"No way he was going to sleep with Justin anywhere near. I don't blame him." Sam said with a shrug. "I suspect he sleeps best in a car anyway. Harry is going to be exhausted by the time we return."

"Well, I did offer for ALL of us to go." Dean joked. "Then we could all be irritable. Woulda been loads of fun." He said. "This is going to be hell. Dad, Justin, Harry. All in one place, on one operation."

"Yeah well... so long as no one dies, I'll count it a success. Don't think they have similar expectations though."

"Everyone survives." Dean said firmly. "I mean it, Sam. We can try to figure out everything later, but not with this on us. It's too much."

"No complaint from me... It's more the Justin and Harry contingent I worry about. Dad... well... he's right. He won't kill a man with out it being in self defense... but Justin just came back from the dead... that means all bets are off."

"Yeah I know. I'll have to continually point out to Justin that I wasn't trained to be a baby sitter, I was trained to be a Jason Bourne. Therefore, everyone should behave, unless they really want me to freak out on them."

"Oh nice image that." Sam said, having read all the books. "Doesn't endear Justin to me at the moment. Do us all a favor and don't use the analogy of a tormented CIA assassin in front of Dad. "

"Dude, it was a joke." Dean said with a roll of his eyes. "Come on, do I really seem the tortured assassin type? Really." He shook his head. "I'm the only one in the family with a sense of humor."

Sam looked at his brother. "You could take on Bourne and come out evenly matched." He said. "The real CIA would be jealous of the training you have."

"The real CIA should hire Justin then." Dean said. "Dude, I'm so much better than Bourne. First off, I'm better looking. Than both Bourne and Matt Damon. Dad would get all uptight again over a crappy analogy made in jest?"

"When Justin was still dead and buried, probably not. Right now... who knows?" Sam said shaking his head. Everyone was wound pretty tightly now that Justin had made his reappearance.

"The real question is...could I take the Terminator. The one in the original movie, not the softie from 2 and 3." Dean said with a laugh. Everyone was definitely tightly wound. He just wanted this latest thing to be over so he could go back to ignoring it all.

"I don't know.. the cops couldn't take him, the soldier couldn't take him. It took a waitress to do him in. You girly enough to take him on?" He teased. 

"You're absolutely right. I should leave him to you. Can't do all the work after all." Dean said with a smirk. "I think you're girly enough for the job." He pulled over onto the shoulder and opened the door for Max, who was antsy. Potty break.

"Nice." Sam said with a soft laugh.

John stirred as Mutt started licking him in the face and barking in order to be let out as well. "Yeah, yeah, hold on there kid." He said as he pushed himself up right, took in their surroundings and opened the appropriate door for his dog, then lay his head back down.

Dean looked over the seat at his father. "You okay there?" He asked. It was one thing to be tired, but his dad looked like he'd been hit by a truck. A couple of times.

"Yeah." John said sitting up slowly. "I'm fine." He said as he followed the dog out the car door so that he could stretch his legs.

"If Dean said that, I would start looking him over for injuries quick." Sam said.

"That's because you're a girl." Dean said. "Dad!" He said and waited for John to turn around. He tossed him a bottle of pain killers. "Those should help." He had a pharmacy on board, and usually used most of it on any given trip.

John nodded his thanks and took two without water. He chewed them, grimacing at the taste, and swallowed. He needed them to work quickly. He was a mass of bruises under his shirt. He doubted there was a part of his torso that wasnt bruised or scraped at this point. 

Dean exchanged a look with Sam and adjusted in his seat. "Yeah, he's beat up pretty good." Dean said. Probably bruises and lacerations. But he seemed all right for the moment. "He just needs some rest."

Sam nodded. "Yeah... if he isn't any better in a couple of days... we start to worry though." He added quietly as their father returned to the car with Mutt.

Max bounded back into the front seat and John and Mutt settled back in the back seat. "So, Daniel Elkins..." Dean said. "Does he know you a) had sons and b) they're not quite so dead after all? Cause we already did that whole holy water crossing salt lines thing with Bobby."

"Elkins and I were never close. He doesn't know anything about me so introducing you as my boys won't create problems." He said as he eased back against seat, and petted his dog. 

"Good, cause a few less problems right about now would be good." Dean said as he started the car back up and pulled onto the highway. "I'm hungry. Anyone in the mood for anything in particular?"

"Not a picky eater but food sounds good." John said.

"Where ever it is, we should go in. It pisses me off when the drive through fritzes out every time I am near it." Sam added.

"Pisses you off? What about that poor girl who got an ear full of buzzing, crackling static?" Dean said with a laugh, referring to their last drive through malfunction. "Man, her mood was almost blown for the whole night."

"I don't doubt it." he said with a chuckle. "Better to just go in ... find some diner some where that we can sit down in."

"Maybe one with tables outside so the dogs don't have to stay roped up outside." Dean said as they hti another town and he drove around until he found one. A burger joint, walk up ordering, take it to a picnic table and eat kind of place. With some room for the dogs to run around and play for a bit.

"Smells good, that's for sure." Sam said as he got out of the car. His stomach growled in response.

John chuckled as Mutt started dancing in circles in front of him. The dog knew what was coming. His own burger with extra cheese. John spoiled the animal greatly, but then, the dog worked hard and had more than once saved the man's hide. He deserved to be spoiled.

Max was more spoiled than Mutt, if possible. The men got their food, and Max had her burger cut up into small pieces, and the fries torn into bite size pieces before Dean lowered the plate to the pug. "You know, this isn't going so bad." Dean said as he ate. He'd called Harry, and though Harry was keeping a close eye, both men were still alive. And the road trip was going well too. 

John fed his dog a bite at a time rather than just putting down a plate for him. "It sure as hell beats hanging around the mansion " He didn't think he would heal at all if he stayed there. Not at all.

Dean checked on Max's progress, she was one independent woman, for a dog, and slipped her a few more fries. Beats the mansion. Okay, with Justin there, he'd give his father that. The big problem was that was home to Sam and Dean. And Dean's homebase more importantly! Harry liked to tease him that the mansion was his own personal batcave.

"Once this is all over, we'll all see where we stand." Dean said carefully. He knew the mansion was big enough that if Justin and John wanted to stay out of each other's way, they could easily do so.

"Yeah, I suppose we will." John said. It was easy to see the hold Justin had on his boys. They seemed to have forgiven and accepted him back a good deal easier than they had accepted their father. He didn't have to ponder how that made him feel. Just keep a lid on it.

Dean exchanged another look with his brother. This was not going to go smoothly at all, once they returned to Chicago. And again, Dean could feel both his uncle and his father tugging at his sleeves in opposite directions. He wondered how hard they could pull until he was torn in half. "So how far back do you and Elkins go?"

" 'bout ten years." John said as he finished his coffee. "He's been looking for a gun for me. A specific Colt. He's an old vampire hunter. Crazy around the edges but at his age, with what he's seen its to be expected."

Dean chuckled. "Vampire hunter? Should I even ask what court?" Though he knew there were vampires outside of the courts, non aligned. Though from his perspective, they were more black court than anything else, even if they wouldn't admit it. "Never mind, long story."

"He could probably tell you. I don't know anything about Vampires. You wouldn't think that took a special breed of hunter but it does. " John said. Him, he could hunt just about anything, but vampires became a life's work. He already had one of those. Didn't need the distraction of another. 

"Hey, Sam. Bianca, she's...red court, right?" Dean said, having on occasion dealt with the different courts of vampires in Chicago. "She's cute. But the ones on the loose are probably black court, and they're really not cute."

"What he hunts... outwardly looks like they did when they were living. They don't have trouble with daylight. Don't particularly care about garlic or the like. They catch your scent once, they have it until one of you is dead. Dead man's blood is poison to them... gotta remove the head to be sure they are history." John said. "Vindictive sons of bitches too."

"Oh, I don't know, humans might give them a run for their money in that area." Dean said as he drank his soda. After all, his father was still on the hunt for a demon over 20 years later. And Dean? Well, he didn't see himself forgiving Morgan, or forgetting what he had done. The demon wasn't getting off easy. For that matter, neither Justin nor John.

John didn't say anything to that. After all, wasn't Justin taking his vengeance on the men that took his sisters from him? He figured poor Dresden got off easy with a heart attack. He didn't expect the boys to understand. They didn't have children. Didn't have anything to compare it to, didn't have anything to compare the terror he had felt that night in the hotel to, when he had nearly lost Sam. He prayed that they never understood it.  
Sam cleared his throat after a few moments, the silence was anything but comfortable. "So... do you think there is a way to destroy or... disable the sepulchers?"

"Has to be." Dean said. "Justin's not stupid enough to open them himself." He might be many things, but he wasn't stupid. "Unfortunately he's probably holding onto that way until the last possible moment." He said bitterly. More secrets.

"The Justin your mother spoke of, was hungry for power, like your grandfather. And like your grandfather would do anything to get it. World destruction... doesn't get you power. It just lowers the property values." John had to admit that much. "And don't take this the wrong way, but I'm a hunter with some pretty hard beliefs about this whole coming back from the dead thing... are we sure that's Justin? How did this resurrection process work? Was his soul held in stasis here after death and the body just needed a supernatural jump start or was it something different? Makes all the difference in the world here, boys."

"His essence, I guess you could call it a soul, was held in a doppleganger. Magical ability comes only in one body, can't be transferred like that, so the magic stayed with the corpse, while Justin stayed with Mini Me. He had it set up ahead of time, in case someone tried to kill him. Probably setting it up again for all we know." Dean said, paying close attention to his remaining french fries. "So, yeah, guess the corpse where the magic is needed a jump start. Because the double without the magic was useless." Though he was sure a part of his father was just looking for an excuse, even if he didn't want to admit it.

John actually relaxed. "Okay... then we should be able to trust him with this." It also meant the son of a bitch was unlikely to hurt his boys. Him, on the other hand, that was a different matter entirely, and John knew it. He wasn't a fool. Not any longer.

Dean looked at John. "We don't have a choice. He's our access to the other sepulchers." He said. "The council has had them, and they've been right under the junior members' noses." The members like Sam, who were full members in name only, most of the secrets kept from them. "Justin is the only one we know that can get in there to them."

"We have a choice, Dean." John said. "Couple of them. A. is to trust that Justin is up to what he says he is up to... which has the side benefit of completing his life's ambition. B. We get the box we know to a place where nothing including a wizard can get to it. C. We don't trust Justin but we let him get us to the boxes, and deal with them before he has a chance to do anything with them."

"Option B is out." Dean said. "I mean, how would we get the box to a place no one could get to? That would mean we couldn't get to it either, which means it can't be gotten to. OW!" He said as his brother kicked him under the table and Max growled. "Dude, I'm not being a smart ass, I'm serious!"

Sam gave his brother a long suffering look and rolled his eyes.

"There are ways." John said but they weren't easy ones. Having Sam along would help. Wizards had an easier time with gates and the like. "But that leaves us with the question of just how far do we trust him."

"Look, if we can get to wherever it is, that means eventually someone else will as well." Dean said and glared at Sam. His shin was sore now. "And Option C isn't a good one. We don't know what to do with it. By the time we figure it out, the council might over power us and take it anyway. Could be done, easily. Justin's got the aces in here, I don't think he's bluffing. And we don't have anything to bluff with really." 

"Trusting Justin Morningway... not a wise option really. All things considered. Sepulchers aside... what if we are letting loose a worse devil than the one that is already at the head of the council?"

"I don't know." Dean said honestly. "But I'll feel a whole lot better when the sepulchers are out of the equation all together. We'll figure out Justin if we have to later." 

It was a no win situation as far as John was concerned. No matter what Dean thought, his biases didn't come from the kidnapping alone. They were planted there firmly by their mother, who wanted the boys kept as far from Justin as possible. Just another way he had failed Mary. "About all we can do."

Dean finished his fries, his mood was shot. But with all the stress hanging over all of them, from the situation and the interpersonal issues, it didn't take much to shoot Dean's mood down. "Come on, I think we can make it to Elkins' by night fall."

John nodded and motioned for Mutt to follow him back to the car. He was definitely going to have to come up with alternate living arrangements, or just rarely come into town anymore. He wasn't going to be able to take much of this. Anything that was said about Justin got the boy worked up. It was too much to ask ... it was just too much to ask of him.

Sam sighed and got to his feet. He wasn't so anxious to forgive Justin. He remembered the look on Harry's face the night he had killed him. The horror and sorrow at how his father had truly died. The fact that they had been taken while Justin knew that their Dad was still alive. The whole adoption thing was bogus because of that. It was done with the courts' believing their father was dead as well. Too many secrets and lies. He understood John and Harry. He supposed he understood Dean as well, but he didn't necessarily agree with him this time.

Dean waved off any offers to drive. He needed to drive. He needed his hands on the steering wheel, his foot on the accelerator, and his choice of music blaring. All he'd ever wanted was his family as intact as it possibly could be. On paper, he had that. But he had sniping from Justin, snark from John, Harry was pulling away. No matter what he did, he couldn't keep it all together, couldn't keep them all together. He knew it was too much to ask of everyone. Including him, he had a lot of pent up issues with just about everyone himself. Half the time he wanted to take off on a hunt across the country, just leave and let them work it all out, or fall apart, or something without him being in the middle. Like the boy with the dam, plugging leaks with his fingers. Until he ran out of fingers.

Sam had his own ideas about things. Most of them included the older men not living in the house at all. Neither of them. He liked having John around. Loved it. But John was in town for a week or two at a time in between hunts.Or a string of hunts. It was like having a house guest. Justin wasn't going to be a house guest. Justin was going to want to be lord of the manor. He and Dean were going to clash and once they clashed, then Harry and John would want to jump in and it would all go to hell in three handbaskets.

He took two pain killers and leaned his head against the window. He didn't want to see Elkins tonight. He wanted a hotel room and silence.

Dean glared at the road. Even Max, picking up on Dean's mood, glared at the dashboard as Dean drove. Fast and hard. He was incredibly lucky he didn't get stopped. But he pulled up in Elkins' driveway ahead of schedule, amazingly enough. "We're here." He said.

Sam barely bit of a 'thank god'. John slowly sat up in the back seat, not daring to stretch, but got into the pills and chewed two more before opening the door and getting out. He looked around, taking in his surroundings.

"I'll go see if he's around. If not, I know where he goes to drink" He told his sons and walked stiffly up to the door.

"Sounds good." Dean said as he got out and leaned against the car, hands buried in the pockets of his jacket as he waited. Shifting his weight a bit from foot to foot, he was never very good at waiting, no matter how much practice he had.

Sam looked around, getting a bad feeling about it all. It was too quiet. The air was almost electric with the quietness of it all.

"He's home, come on." John called out to his sons, motioning them to the door. 

Dean looked around him, into the thick patch of woods. But went into the house after his father, making sure his brother got in first of course. Daniel Elkins was sitting on a battered couch, two boxes in front of him. And a whiskey bottle.

"Reinforcements, John?" Elkins asked with a chuckle.

"Daniel Elkins, these are my boys, Sam and Dean." He said. "Not so much reinforcements. More like company on the road these days. " John told him. "How ya doin?"

"Damn. You spawned." Elkins dead panned. "Doing just fine. Pull up a glass boys." He said to Sam and Dean. "Now, John, I got two things I need to show you. They're big, I promise. Worth the drive here."

"You found it, didn't you?" John breathed, not sure he dared to hope. That gun was the key to finally dealing with the demon. To put an end to that nightmare hanging over his head.

"Well, here's the sepulcher." He said, indicating an ornately carved box. "You said you could deal with this, right?" Then he gestured to the smaller box and opened that one. "So much for a tale I made up when I was drunk, huh?" He said with what could have been a smirk.

Dean leaned in and looked at the antique gun. "A gun?"

"Not just any gun, son." Elkins said, closing the case again. "This here is a special gun."

John took it out of the box and looked it over as if it were a sacred relic. "This gun... was made by Samuel Colt... to kill demons. " He said and looked over at Dean. "With this... we can kill the son of a bitch."

Dean had to sit down at that part as he tossed his brother a shocked and amazed look. "Finally." He breathed out. The demon had been haunting his life in ways his father didn't even know about for far too long.

Elkins nodded and took a drink of whiskey as he looked at the Winchester men. "There's five bullets. But you'll only get one shot at the bastard."

John nodded. "Miss and he will fight tooth and nail and for a demon, that's a lot of teeth." He said sitting down as well. He had just been handed his holy grail. "Thank you." He said quietly and cleared his throat. "Okay... the box... we can take care of the box. Make sure it stays out of the wrong hands."

"Good." Elkins said, standing up. "Because I'm not sure I can." He walked over to the window and looked out it. "In fact, you guys should leave with it. Now."

"What's out there?" Sam asked, still feeling that charged feeling in the air. What Dean would call his spidey sense. He got the feeling Elkins felt it too. He got up and picked up the box, holding it under one arm, the other hand going to his knife/wand.

"Trouble." Elkins said, before the window next to him broke. And with the window, all hell broke loose in that cabin.

"Sam, get the boxes to the car!" Dean shouted. He was sober, and in much better shape than either his father or his brother. He'd take them on and buy them time.

Sam ran, knowing that if his cargo was lost, so was the fight. He hurried to the car, not bothering with the keys to get into the trunk. Instead he pointed his knife at it and cast the spell Harry had taught him to open locks. He put the boxes in the trunk and grabbed a cross bow out before slamming it closed.

He turned to find himself face to face with two of the vampires, and quickly shouted a spell that erected a protective circle around him and the car.

All the training that Justin had put Dean through definitely paid off in moments like this. His movements were fluid, smooth and brutal. If he took hits, he didn't feel them yet (another part of the training, plus adrenaline rush, plus what was naturally Dean). He just took on as many of the vampires as he could, giving his dad, hopefully, time to get himself and Elkins out.

Daniel Elkins was dead in the first moments of the fight, and John Winchester had no intention of leaving his son to fight these bastards while he made an escape. He had to have faith that Sam could take care of himself out there. He couldn't afford to divide his attention between them.

He ignored the pain of the blows as he continued to fight. Apologizing to his old friend as he wet his blade in the dead man's blood, and plunged it into his attacker before the world went black.

"Dad!" Dean said, seeing his father go down. And go down hard at that. Dean went over to his father, and kept the vampires off him. After everything that had happened, everything they'd been through, he was not going to lose his father to the walking dead, and that was that. So he took the fight away from his father, across the cabin. Planning on taking out as many of these sons of bitches as he could, even as he heard his rib snap. He'd feel that later, he was sure, as he wiped the blood out of his eyes. "Sam! Get Dad NOW!" He yelled out. He was pretty certain Sam had pulled a magical defense. John didn't have that. And Dean was having trouble keeping his balance, he didn't know how much longer he'd be able to hold out.

Then he was thrown through the window, and hit the ground hard. Groaning he rolled and tried to get up, but they were on him too fast.

"Dean!" Sam yelled, but wasn't able to move, he didn't have the items safe enough yet. He eased slowly around the car to get into the driver's seat, pushing aside both frantic dogs to get behind the wheel. Both dogs bolted out the door before he could close it and there was nothing he could do to stop them from rushing toward the fight. Max keeping up with Mutt, her short little legs a blur as she ran.

Sam started the car and turned it around running down two of the vampires as he drove toward his brother.

Mutt jumped through the window to John. And Max sat down on her haunches. Confused. And started to howl and keen. She could smell Dean, she could see where his blood was, but she couldn't find Dean. In the chaos of dogs and charging car, Dean had disappeared along with a handful of the vampires. Leaving Max nothing to do by howl, she couldn't pick up his scent, not with all this blood. His, Elkins', John's, the vampires...too much blood for a dog to work around.

Sam swore as he got out of the car, and went to the dog, scooping her up. "We'll find him... they took him alive... they won't kill him... " He hoped he was right. He put away his wand and took out the cell phone as he headed inside, and called Harry as he knelt beside his father.

John moaned. "Dean?" He asked as he cracked open his eyes. Not asking if the shaggy haired young man kneeling over him was Dean, he knew it was Sam. The tone made it apparent that he wanted to know where Dean was. He knew where Sam was, and Sam looked all right for the moment. He could ask in a bit if Sam was hurt. But it was his eldest son he couldn't locate in the dark, in the debris. "Dean?" He repeated a little more urgently.

Sam hung up the cell phone. Harry would be speaking with Bianca to find out what he could about this particular cell of vampires. If there was any information to be had. Sam sighed and shook his head. "They took him. I couldn't stop it. " He said, fearing the worst but trying to find hope in the fact that they took him alive instead of killing him there. "Do you need a doctor?" He asked, as he started formulating a plan to keep the boxes and their contents safe. Dean was going to kill him when they found him.

"I'm fine." John said. The 'I'm fine' line had to be heriditary. But he pushed himself into a sitting position. "Elkins is dead. We have to deal with the body." A hunter's funeral. They were enough in the middle of no where that they could pull it off without anyone noticing. "Then we'll go after Dean." Anything wrong with him could wait. It would have to.

"Yeah well, I'm going to need some of his blood before we bury him." Sam said. "And we need to clear out the weapons from the trunk. I'm going to make sure nothing but me gets in that trunk until those boxes are safely back in Chicago." He said, trying to focus on the big picture because to do otherwise would be to allow panic to settle in. "And then we take you to the emergency room while Harry is finding out what he can from the Red Court about these fangy bastards."

John groaned and nearly fell over as he got himself into a standing position. But if he stopped, he feared he wouldn't get back up, and Dean couldn't afford that. Not now. Now was not the time to give into his body, or Sam. "Come on, you grab the arms." John said. He hated the idea of draining Daniel's blood, but Sam was right, it had to be done. "Must be some Mason jars around here. Then we burn and go after Dean." He was also staying on task, because if he didn't, fear would creep in on what could be happening to his eldest son. Though, looking around the room at a small pile of dead for real vampires, his son had put up one hell of a fight.

"You have any idea where to start looking?" Sam asked him as he went into the small kitchen and took out a couple of jars. That would be enough. More than enough for what he needed. Thankfully there were easier ways go about the blood letting where magic was concerned. It didn't need to be the ghoulish prospect that it would normally be.

Sam had to repeat his question. John's ears were ringing and his head was swimming. He definitely got his clock cleaned, as the saying went. He swallowed past a wave of nausea, he knew he had a concussion. His knee was even worse for wear, and taking anything but the most shallowest of breaths was not going to happen. On top of bruises, cuts, bumps, and lumps of various sizes and colors.

Today, John Winchester would definitely not win a beauty contest.

"No. Gimme a minute." He said. To think. Or try to

"Right... you sit down. Let me take care of things here." He said as he moved to direct his father to the sofa and handed him what was left of the whiskey, before taking out his knife/wand and opening the jars, setting them on the floor. "Never done this with blood before... but it beats the alternative... and it should work the same." He said as he cast the minor spell to put the pooled blood into the jars.

"Wonder if Justin's would work." John grumbled before he thought better of it. Hey, dead man's blood was dead man's blood, right?

This whole world, that Mary wanted no part of, that Mary had planned her sons never being part of, was part of Sam's identity. John was still wrapping his head around that one, about how big he had failed his beloved wife. He shook his head, as if to physically clear his head, because those thoughts were useless and counter productive right now. He watched as the pooled blood went into the Mason jars and then as the jars were sealed tight, to prevent clotting and decomposition.

"Okay." He said, still leaning on the wall. Hopefully the wall wouldn't move, because if it did, John wasn't sure he'd get back up. "So Harry works it from his end, and we hunt. See if we can pick up a trail."

"No. Harry works on it, you go to the emergency room and I make sure that sepulcher doesn't get into the wrong hands... and try and divine where he is. You aren't going to do me or Dean any good passed out on the floor somewhere."

"Sam, we don't have time." John said insistently. "Let's go with Dean being alive. Hopefully he's unconscious. Because once he wakes up...I don't know if you noticed or not, but your brother has quite the mouth on him. Their tolerance level for snark and sarcasm probably isn't very high, and Dean won't be able to help himself."

"Fine, you deal with the body and I will deal with the trunk because if we lose either of these... you won't want to deal with Dean when we do find him. Because then everything will have been for nothing." He said as he took the blood out to the car.  
He knew that his father wouldn't be able to deal with the body, and if he couldn't do that he couldn't hunt either. It was suicide for him to go after Dean right now. He needed a hospital bed, then Sam could go and find his brother.

He emptied the weapons from the trunk, and poured in a layer of rock salt, he then sprayed that salt with dead man's blood, put in the boxes, and buried them in salt. "Dean is going to kill me." He muttered as he repeated the process with the blood, tinging the entirety of the salt a disturbing shade of pinkish red.

He raised his knife and cast a spell on it, and the trunk slammed shut, and the lock glowed. If that trunk opened before the spell was removed, the rock salt would fly out like a million pieces of poison shrapnel.

John was breathing hard, but shallowly. He got the body out into the back. It wasn't that far, even if he felt like he'd run a marathon. He didn't even remember boot camp being this hard. He leaned against the house, staring at the wood pile. Rubbing his eyes, clearing the double vision.

This was a test. He knew it was. If he couldn't handle a dead body, then how could he handle vampires? And dammit he was failing. His eldest son might be killed because he couldn't overcome the weakness of his body.

"No." He said roughly to himself, pushing his sore and battered body off the house, limping over to the wood pile and gathering wood into his arms, hissing as the rough logs dug into open areas. He wouldn't lose his son now. Not like this.

Sam hated doing this to his father, but he wasnt going to risk either of them. He went back inside and searched the house, finding Elkins' journal and pocketing it. He needed all the information he could get on this particular breed of vampire.

He then scoured the place, for any bits of vampire he could find that wasn't left behind by the dead bodies. Something he could use in a tracking spell because if that didn't work, he was screwed. Tracking spells wouldn't work on Dean right now.

"Yes, I know Max." He said to the dog. "We're gonna find him, I promise."

John got one log around the body. And had to rest. Dammit, Sam was right. And it was going to cost Dean because he was right. That didn't stop John was trying to push forward anyway. His eldest had been fearless, going into the sea of vampires to buy them time to keep the artifacts secure. Losing those was not an option right now.

Three logs later, and the feelings of something pulling hard inside him, John finally collapsed, unconscious on the ground. His body finally overriding his mind.

Mutt sniffed at his master and howled long and loud. Sam didn't waste time wondering what the dog was going on about, he ran to look. He had expected his father to come to his senses some where in the process, but no... the man had literally knocked himself out trying. Well better here than in a fight with vampires. At least that's what Sam told himself as he grabbed his father and half carried him to the car, easing him into the back seat.

"Let's go." He said to both dogs and they got in, Maxie giving him an evil look, but getting in none the less. Sam was leaving Dean behind somewhere and she wasn't happy about it in the slightest.

He drove to the nearest hospital breaking at least a dozen traffic laws in the process. He parked the car, and gave himself and his father a cursory look over, and with a quick spell eliminated the blood coating them. Very little of it was actually John's, then called for help getting his father into the ER.

John was rushed into an exam room, with Sam's tale of being mugged. Beat the truth, that he was ambushed by vampires and made things worse preparing his friend's body for burning, right?

"We have to admit your father for observation." The doctor told Sam. "At least."

Sam nodded. "How bad is it?" He asked. It looked bad, and if his father were unconscious it was doubly so. He hated that he was going to have to leave the man here to go in search of Dean but there was nothing else he could do... but he wasn't going anywhere until he knew what was going on.

"He's got a concussion. Broken ribs. His lung is bruised. Some minor internal bleeding. Nothing we have to open him up for, but they all warrant some close observation." The doctor said. "I want to keep him here as long as I can." John had briefly roused, and the doctor knew that he might be able to keep John a few days, but no more. So his goal, his "as long as I can" was three days.

Sam visibly relaxed. His father was going to be all right in time. That was one taken care of, now to find Dean. "Can I see him? " He asked. He didn't want to just leave the man there to wake up alone but he had to get busy. There was only so much time he could afford to let slip past with his brother out there in trouble.

"We're moving him up to his room now, you can follow up." He said as John was wheeled past in the stretcher, an IV already running through his arm. "When he wakes up, the police will probably want to talk to him, this was one of the most vicious muggings I've seen in a long time."

Sam nodded. "Okay." Which meant he had to be here when his dad woke up to tell him the cover story. "Do you know how long he will be out?" He was hoping for a call from Harry, something, anything to go on. Otherwise he was going to have to scour Elkins' journal and hope for a clue.

"No." The doctor said, shaking his head. "He'll be on the fourth floor." He said and left to attend his other patients.

John was transferred to the bed, and his battered frame made the bed look small. Nearly unable to contain him as he twitched in his sleep. Who knew what he was dreaming? Things that happened, or things that could happen. Possibly a horrifying mix of both.

Harry called Sam. "I've got Bianca running down some sources, she owes me." He said. "How's your dad?"

"Thanks." Sam said, with a sigh as he settled into the chair. "Not good. He is unconscious. Light internal bleeding, battered all to hell. They want to keep him for a few days. Don't know how that's going to work once he wakes up."

"Probably about as well as keeping your brother on bedrest." Harry observed dryly. At least that he had experience with. And it was an impossible feat in itself. He could only imagine what the elder Winchester was going to be like.

"Yeah well, I'm thinking of having him flighted back to Chicago. Get him out of the situation entirely. But I think dealing with him when I got back would be worse than facing down the vampires."

"Get him back to Chicago. We'll babysit him here. By we I mean me, Bob and Murph." Harry said. He wasn't going to let Justin near John. No matter what his opinion of John, he knew this wasn't the other man's fault.

"Good. I will make arrangements then. Thanks, Harry. I'll call you when I get things taken care of." That took a load off of Sam's mind. He didn't have to worry about his father and his brother at the same time, which meant he could get to work. "I've got the sepulcher... it's booby trapped in the trunk right now. I don't dare send it with Dad. I'll bring it when I bring Dean home." There was no if. There was only when.

"You bobby trapped Dean's car?" Harry said, laughing. "Doesn't matter what condition Dean is in. Guaranteed by the time you guys get back to Chicago, you're going to be in wose condition."

"Yeah, but not as bad as if I had let the box get away in order to save him." Sam pointed out. "Let's just hope I get to the trunk before he does or I'll be picking rock salt out of his hide for a month." He said as he started toward the door. "I'm gonna go and make arrangements on this end to have Dad flown out. I will talk to you in a bit." He said and hung up.

tmatmatmatma

"I wonder if he's going to wake up and play." She said as she circled their prisoner. "He certainly seemed fiesty enough back at the cabin."

Dean was awake. But he was going through his options right now. It was better than thinking about pain. Or the fact that he was tied up. Or numerous other things that made his situation look really really bad.

But she kept yammering on and on, making his head hurt worse than before.

"Will you shut up?" He snapped.

"Guess that answers your question." Luther said with a chuckle. "Find out why laughing boy here was hanging out with a wizard and a vampire hunter. Not liking that combination. " He said with a frown. He just wanted to get on with his life. He had lost enough because of Elkins. 

"Because I was bored." Dean shot back. "Next time I'll check my social calendar with you first, how's that sound? Those this place...goes beyond the meaning 'fixer upper' you know." He could only hope that Sam and Dad were safe. Because right now he wasn't in a position to do much. Though it wasn't stopping him from trying to get out of the restraints.

Kate stepped close to Dean pushing him back against the pillar and pinning him tightly to it. "Attitude... gotta admit I like a man with attitude. But since I'm already involved it's not gonna do you much good." She said. "Now why don't you be a good boy and tell the man the truth."

"I'm not the good boy of the family, sorry." Dean said, groaning a bit as he was pinned against the pillar. "But you guys just don't know how to pick your battles, do you? Cause, dude, attacking us was a really stupid thing to do."

"What? Two dead hunters and a wizard that couldn't fight his way out of a wet paper bag is supposed to scare me?" Luther asked with a laugh. "Is Harry Potter gonna show up and blast me into kingdom come?" 

"You are an idiot." Dean said, shaking his head. "That wizard who couldn't fight his way out of a wet paper bag is a council member. So you better hope that all his fluffy hair is right where it should be, along with everything else."

"Council member, huh? Well that would explain why he ran like a coward. They're taking them in younger every year, aren't they?" She said, not at all intimidated by the news.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Great. So what's the plan for tonight?" He asked in a bored tone. "Cause let me tell you, boy wizard and two old hunters were more entertaining than you guys."

Kate looked him over and then looked to Luther. "What do you think? Did the council send us take out? Or did they expect us to be their assassins as well tonight?" She asked him.

"Don't suppose it matters. End result is the same." He said. "And since Junior took off like a bat out of hell, I'm betting he was leading the little lambs to the slaughter. But what the hell, one more hunter out of the way than expected."

Dean just glared. No way did Sammy lead them to slaughter. It was a set up, and he was going to march right into the council chambers and settle this when he was out of here.

"Ooh. That means we get to play." Kate said as she ran a fingernail down the side of Dean's face, laughing as he moved his head away from the finger. "You did promise me entertainment tonight, baby."

"Yeah, I guess you can play." He said with a chuckle. "He'll make a good addition to the family when you're bored with him, so keep that in mind while you play." He added and went to get a couple of beers.

"Aww, sometimes he can spoil a party." Kate said to Dean with a smirk as she ran her tongue down the side of his neck. Dean grimaced.

"You know, just bite me. Bleed me dry, whatever. But the real torture here is watching two fangs make cute and monologue." Dean said.

Luther came back and opened his beer. "That anxious to be undead? Not even wanting to stall in hopes that the calvary is coming to save you? Not sure if that's fatalism or intelligence. Not betting on the latter... you are here after all. Fortunately that tends to go up after you're turned."

"Then how stupid were you when you weren't undead?" Dean said and got soundly smacked by Kate for that. He licked at the blood in the corner of his mouth, as much out of instinct to see how bad it was split, as wanting to keep the blood from them. "Dude, don't expect me to turn. I know how it goes. I'd rather die."

"Every one says that...until they are staring death in the face." Luther said, ignoring Dean's insult "Of course everyone also seems to think they have a choice."

"Maybe we should break him." Kate said thoughtfully. "Once he's turned, he could still turn on us with this attitude of his. He is a hunter after all."

"Oh boy. Here we go. Talk of torture and death. You guys gotta get some new material." Dean scoffed.

"Why don't you have fun?" Luther said, finishing his beer. "We'll see if there is anything left of him to turn when you're done. If not well... shove him in the pantry for later."

Kate smiled. "Great idea, baby." She said and looked at Dean. "By the time I'm done, you'll beg us to turn you to stop the pain." She said, with a surprisingly sweet smile on her face.

And Dean felt a shiver of fear run down his spine at that.

TMATMATMA

Sam watched as they loaded his father into the air plane. He was going to be kept unconscious through the trip which was probably for the best. Would keep him from making them bring him back. There would be hell to pay when it was over but it was for the best.

He headed back out to Elkins' place with two sullen dogs in the front passenger's seat. Both of them given to random bouts of keening that was enough to make Sam's head explode. No amount of reasoning with either animal was enough to settle them down.

He took care of the aging hunters funeral as he deserved before going back into the house and rumaging through his research and hunting supplies. Vampires were a breed apart. That was for certain.

The news paper clippings and notes recently made indicated that the group appeared to be settled in. Not just here to hit an old enemy. Even if thats what it seemed to be during the attack. People turning up missing along the old highway...

"Well... it beats sitting around here doing nothing." Sam said. "You two hold down the fort, I'm going for a drive." 

Max was having none of that, as she ran as fast as her little legs would carry her and jumped into the front seat. When Sam tried to move her, she growled low in her throat. She was not moving until they found Dean. And she would not accept anything else for an answer as she sat down and stared at the dashboard.

She knew Dean's brother was going looking for him. At least he better be looking for Dean.

Sam shook his head. "Come on, you may as well come too." He said to Mutt and opened the back door for his father's dog. He didn't feel right leaving one of them there alone in a strange place. Maxie was used to time alone. He suspected that Mutt was never alone.

He started the car and headed toward the highway, figuring he could at least scout it out for potential clues while waiting for Bianca to get information to Harry.

Satisfied, Max relaxed in the front seat. When Dean wasn't riding with Sam, this was her spot. And often times even when he was, though she'd be more in the middle than as sprawled out as a pug could get.

For a dog, she had very simple goals in her canine life. Eat well, exercise when she wanted to, and keep Dean safe when she could. Everything else was just gravy on the kibbles and bits.

Sam drove down the highway as slowly as he dared, exploring back roads and peering at barns and farm houses until his neck was tense and his head ready to explode. "Of course they couldn't come up with vampire detection spell... of course the tracking spells don't work, cause the sons of bitches are dead. " He grumbled before finally pulling off the side of the road and parking the car in a nest of bushes. "Hope you are up to sniffing out every one of these places." He said to Max. "Cause I have a feeling it's gonna be your nose to give me a clue tonight."

Max was immediately on alert and jumped out the open window to start sniffing around. Not coming up with much, but she wasn't going to stop trying until Dean was in the Impala. She sniffed around, under, over, everywhere, looking for some sign as Sam's cellphone rang.

"Sam, it's Harry." Harry said. "I've got Bianca here now."

"Good. What has she got for us?" He asked as he got out of the car as well, locking Mutt inside with the windows cracked. He couldn't keep track of two of them.

"Well..." Harry said, and Bianca could clearly be heard in the background. Then Bianca came on the line.

"Sam, your council is up to some dirty deeds." She said in her seductive voice. She wasn't trying to be seductive, she just was. It was part of who she was. She might have been like that before she became a vampire, she couldn't remember.

"No offense, but tell me something I don't know... or how their dirty deeds connect to the vampires that kidnapped my brother." Sam asked, worriedly. Could this day get any worse?

"You'd think attacking a council member would start a war, wouldn't you?" Bianca said. "And there will be a war, Sam. I promise you that. There's this vampire, a duke in the court. Who decided I wasn't enough to rule Red Court. So, he cut a deal with your council. Get some box for them, and they help him overthrow me." She said with a delicate snort. "But the grapevine doesn't know the meaning of the word conspiracy. His name is Luther. Dean was just...a nice little bonus."

Sams jaw ticked "So I take it you arent going to mind if I take care of this problem for you" And then went home and took care of another problem one way or the other. The council had gone too far. "So ... now I just need to find a means of finding the bastard first."

"You think you can take them on by yourself?" Bianca said, her laugh tinkling across the line. "They got Dean. And Dean's harder to get than you. Even vampires know their way around a wizard, Sam. But they should be within twenty five miles of where you are. I can send reinforcements you know. And don't start, saying this isn't my problem. This is my problem."

"How long will it take to get them here?" He wasn't about to turn down help from Bianca in this, and he sure as hell wasn't going to tell her that it wasn't her problem. However he was going to go home and have it out with Justin once this was done. No one else knew about Elkins but him.

"I'll be there in a few hours. Sit tight." She said. "But I'll send some of mine to you, they'll be there in an hour or so." And then she hung up in his ear, she had to travel fast.

Harry called Sam back. "She's polite today." He said.

"Fine, if I can get Maxie back in the car I will meet her back at Elkins' place. Harry... it's too much of a coincidence they knew he was a vampire hunter."

"I know." Harry said, Bianca was already gone. Though she had been a fountain of information for her part. "I'll see what I can uncover on this end. Sounds like Justin's work to me. I should tell him Dean's been captured, see what he thinks of that."

Sam snorted. "Yeah, he might be upset that all that training he paid for won't be used to his benefit. Doubt he gives a damn otherwise. Starting to think Dad was right. I shouldn't have trusted him." He said as he started walking around. "Maxie...come on... let's go."

"Like I said, I'll handle things on this end, you wait for Bianca. She's right. If there's enough of them, they can overtake you. Just sit tight. Get a plan in action." He said as he hung up and went to his uncle's study. A new study, since Dean had comandeered his old study and teched it out. He came in without knocking and sat down across from Justin. Justin hadn't been told any of it yet. "They found the sepulcher. And were ambushed. John's in the hospital, and Dean's been taken by a nest of vampires." He said flatly.

Justin looked up. "What?" He said with a frown. "Where is Sam?" He asked as he stood up and went to get his hat and coat fulling intending to go out there himself to find Dean if he had to.

"He's out there looking for Dean." Harry said. "He's got help. You won't be welcome with that help, trust me." Harry said with a chuckle. "John's at a local hospital now. Apparently he went down, and Dean threw himself into the middle of it all to protect his father and his brother. Not how you saw it playing out in your head, was it? That Sam could be in danger, the sepulcher could be taken, and Dean could be overtaken and captured. I figure they're torturing him now. Maybe feeding off him. Maybe with plans to turn him." It hurt him to even say the words, to voice the possibility of what his cousin could be going through, and going through it all alone, but it had to be said to Justin. Bluntly. With no sugar coating.

"What the devil are you implying?" Justin demanded, not pausing in his quest for items to pack for the trip. He didn't give a damn whether or not anyone would welcome his help he was going. Those were his boys, even more than they were John's, at least to his way of thinking and they were alone out there.

"Justin, you're not going." Harry said firmly. "You don't have a place there. It's taken care of and we'll get Dean back." He had to be sure of that, because he didn't like the alternative. "It's all too much coincidence, really. And right now, if you go there, you'll be a distraction Sam does not need. Not with Dean on the line."

"Sam isn't ready to face off vampires on his own." Justin said. "And exactly how is it that you say you are going to get Dean back? What have you done?" 

"I called in a favor." Harry said. "Sam isn't facing them on his own, I'm not stupid, and neither is he. What you need to do is just cool your heels and think about how you're going to get out of this one, Uncle."

"I did not set the boys up. Why on earth would I do that? If you can't manage to wrap your mind around the fact that I love those boys, then wrap it around the fact that it's counter productive to my plans to have the council get that last sepulcher." 

"Fine." Harry said. "Of course I could come up with something that is right up your alley, full of crossing and double crossing. By the way, Bianca's declaring war on the council. Make you happy?"

He raised an eyebrow at that. "Is she... well I would be lying if I said I didn't think it was advantageous. Happy is a bit extreme I would think." Other than Dean being captured, things were going quite well. Bianca would take care of that soon enough, he supposed.

"Great. Course, Dean could be dead by then." Harry said. "But as long as it's advantageous to you taking over the council, everything's kosher." He said, standing up, frustrated. He couldn't read any remorse in his uncle, he was behind it, Harry was convinced. And he didn't even feel remotely bad about how it was turning out.

"You were the one that said she was going to help, you were the one that insisted I couldn't go and help and now you are angry because her actions don't displease me, Have you ever considered the fact that you might be putting this guilt on my head because you want me to be guilty, rather than any real evidence that I am."

"Did you stop and think that this is right up your alley?" Harry said. "The little machinations of small events to cause a big snowball down the hill until things move into place as you want them? Never mind that people get hurt along the way."

"I don't have time to think about how things look, we have to go help them find Dean. I don't care that Samuel has been brain washed by you and his father into thinking I am evil. I need to be there to make sure he is alright. I am going."

"Why?" Harry asked. "To make sure your hard earned money wasn't misspent?" He said, shaking his head. "Justin, Bianca thinks you tried to set her up. You really want to distract her right now? You know how vindictive she can be, and frankly, Dean needs her focused on finding him right now."

"I need to make sure my nephew is still alive. Bianca isn't my concern. Neither she nor Sam are so feather headed as to be distracted from their course by my presence." 

"It's not Bianca's course. It's mine. She's on it as a favor to me and Dean and Sam. She would be distracted by you, because she'd have fun with you." Harry said. "Sit down and wait for the word from Sam."

"You seriously can't expect me to just wait for word from someone who as you say has a grudge against me. How do you know that she won't let them turn him and simply say it was too late?" 

"Because it's a favor to me and Dean. Not you." Harry said. "Because Dean turned is far more dangerous to her than Dean human. She's often impulsive, but she's not an idiot. You think I like staying here? I don't. I'd rather be out there." But he had to keep Justin AND John in place. He'd already sicced Murph in John's hospital room.

"Then why aren't you?" Justin demanded. "Go... make sure they are alright, one of us should be there for them."

"Because I have to babysit you!" Harry shot back. "Someone has to. You know we don't trust you. And it's a load of Sam's already over burdened mind that someone is watching you."

Justin scowled. "I am not the enemy here." He said, taking his seat behind his desk. "If you don't realize that soon, we are all going to pay the price."

"Now is not the time to deal with that little issue." Harry said. "There's not enough room for all that. We just get Dean back, get him fixed up and go from there. Accept it or not, that's the way it is." 

TMATMATMATMA

"Don't look at me like that." Sam said to both Max and Mutt. "Dad is safe, and back home, and... and help is coming to find Dean. We'll get him back. I promise."

Bianca entered then. Not bound by the normal mystical laws surrounding vampires because the owner of the house was dead, she was able to walk in flanked by several of her guard. "Sam." She said simply. "Are you ready?" Only Bianca could seriously walk into a hunt wearing a low cut tight black dress and stiletto heels...and pull it off on top of that.

Sam nodded. "Let's go Max." He said knowing that the dog wouldnt take no for an answer. Besides, she could help track his location if he were kept in an adjacent building or something.

Bianca walked out with the same supernatural, ephemeral grace she had walked in with. "Sam, you need to know. I've declared war on the council. But not you, because you wouldn't be fool enough to lead your brother into this situation. And not Harry, for the same reasons." She said. "Just know that, okay?"

"I know.. thing is... once this situation with Dean is taken care of... there are other things you should know about as well if you are going against the rest of them... we might be allies for longer than you had originally planned." He said honestly. His father and uncle would want his head on a pike for spilling the beans but Bianca wasn't any more interested in the end of the world as they knew it than Sam was. She liked her food on the hoof, not the endangered species list. 

"I look forward to the conversation on the way back to Chicago." Bianca said with a nod. "Luther likes views, so let's head toward someplace with a nice view of the mountains."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Alright. I think we can do that. And thank you by the way." He said "He's my only brother. I appreciate the help." He wasn't about to say he owed her out loud, but he could thank her. And should.

"I know you do." She said with a smile. "Okay, he has a lifepartner named Kate. Back in the day she'd be called a floozy. Anyway, she has a specific sort of torture, if they haven't turned him. They'll cut him, enough to make him bleed, enough to make him hurt, and then she'll, well, she'll lick him. And he'll get high off that." From vampiric saliva. "So he might need detox after this too."

Sam swore. This was the last thing he needed on top of what had happened with Melissa. Sam wanted to kill her just at the thought of that sort of torture. "Is he going to wind up addicted?" 

"If they get him to drink massive amounts of blood in that state, then he'll be one step away from t urning into me." Bianca said honestly. "But if they're just torturing him like that, then it would be like kicking cocaine I'd imagine. He could kick it, but he might always, in the back of his mind, want more." She looked at Sam. "You asked."

Sam nodded, better to know what to expect no matter how bad the news was. He had been blind sided enough lately. "So how do we find them?" He asked, pushing onward. He wanted the girl dead if she had touched his brother... then his uncle was next on the list.

Bianca pulled out her cellphone. "Easy. We ambush them." She said and dialed Luther's number. "Luther." She purred into the cellphone. "I heard someone was being a very naughty boy."

"Oh yeah?" He answered. "Can't imagine who that would be? What do you want Bianca? Spill it. Kinda busy here."

"Are you? Did you forget who still runs Red Court, no matter what your intentions are?" She reminded him coldly. "Yes, I know of your stupid little coup that you're planning. And I want to discuss this before you tear the court apart with your idiotic power play."

"Now why should I think you are just here to talk Bianca? You aren't the sit down and chat type when you feel threatened." He said with a smirk. "Unless of course you're losing your power base already."

"You're right. I lied, I'm not here to discuss. I'm here to squash the little bug who thinks he can take me on. After all, a back door overthrow can't work if I know about it." She said sweetly. "So we're going to settle this the old way. The victor retains Red Court. Unless, of course, you don't think you can beat a woman?" Luther was from an age of chauvinism, so Bianca was appealing to that.

"I don't start what I can't finish." Luther said, not doubting his ability for a moment. "When do we expect you?"

"Momentarily." Bianca said as she looked at one of her men, who gave the thumbs up sign. A former geek from Silicon Valley, he'd triangulated Luther's cell signal. Then she hung up. "Let's go." She said to Sam, with a smile. This would be fun. Luther had to be taught a lesson.

Sam nodded and headed out the door. "I'll follow you." He couldn't leave the car unattended at the moment. Not with the cargo hidden in the trunk. Max followed him out, while Mutt gave a heavy sigh and lay his head down on his paws. Sam could tell the dog was mourning but he didn't have time to deal with it. He reached over and scooped him up and carried him to the car as well. There wouldnt be time to come back for him.

They drove to the spot, and Bianca walked quietly into the house. More of a hovel by her standards. She looked around, moving as if she were being careful not to get dirty. "I can see why you want to usurp me." She said, looking around with disgust as her men filed behind her. 

Sam looked at Max. "Okay... he is here somewhere, let's go quietly in and get him." He said, figuring the vampire would all be distracted by Bianca and her entourage. 

Dean was hanging from a rafter when Max found him, dangling from his wrists which were tied to a rope slung over the wood. His toes could barely skim the floor. Right now, Kate was letting him 'rest'. She didn't want him dead, not yet at least. A dozen or so long, deep cuts marred his pale flesh, and his eyes were glazed over as Max nudged his feet.

Sam was right behind the dog, and moved in to support his brothers weight as he cut his hands free. "It's okay... I'm gonna get you out of here." Sam said softly.

"I'm not done with him, wizard." Kate said, coming back into the room. "Put my toy down. Luther, we've been crossed."

Not that Luther was in any shape to answer, he was fighting not only for the rule of Red Court, but his very undead life as he and Bianca went at it.

Sam glared at her, an expression of rage and hatred on his features changed them dramatically. He eased his brother to the floor and let Max move in to guard him.

He stepped forward, knife drawn and pointing at the woman before him. There was no threat, no offer for her to leave and let Dean go. She was going to die. He would see to that. "Play time's over." He said darkly.

Kate looked at him. "You're out of your league, wizard. Just go. Leave before things get even messier. We're looking toward favorable relations with the council when this is done, so just go."

Sunlight didn't hurt her sort. At least that was what Elkins said, but he knew for a fact that it effected Bianca. He smiled slowly, and cast a sunlight spell aimed for her face, as he advanced and slashed out at her with his knife.

Kate screamed and backed away from the sunlight. Fending herself off from his attack as best she could, until she finally tripped over Max, who started barking at her like SHE was the intruder. Fully prepared to go for Kate's throat if she had to. Because Max didn't care about treaties and peace. She just knew her human wasn't waking up and she could smell his blood on this thing posing as a girl.

"So it does affect you." Sam said as he stood over her, knife aimed at her. By now it was obvious that it was his wand. He cast the spell again, aiming at her legs this time. "He's my brother you know, and I'm a Morningway as well as a Winchester. It's a line you shouldn't have crossed."

"He attacked us!" Kate said. "We lost friends. All we wanted was the boxes. And I wanted Elkins." Because Elkins was a remnant of her human life, her alive life, that she had to do away with once and for all.

"You attacked us... you attacked our father. The boxes didn't belong to you or to the council. And I don't give a damn, you shouldn't have touched him." He said as he plunged the knife into her chest.

Kate screamed, the sound covering up the fight sounds from the other room until Bianca, disheveled, appeared. "Slice open her stomach. Sure proof way. Well, so's beheading, but disembowlment is more painful."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Sam said and looked to Bianca. "I take it Luther is dead?" He asked. "Seeing as you are standing here in one piece and all." He didn't give her time to answer. Merely wanting that concept to sink in to Kate before he eviscerated her. Nothing hurt more than losing someone you loved. Nothing. And he wanted her to hurt to the fullest extent.

Kate paled as tears ran down her face. Luther? Dead? Bianca's face loomed over hers, and the other vampire was smiling.

"Oh yes. And he suffered." She said before straightening up and looking at Dean, then back at Sam. "Best hurry up I'd say. Looks like she got a little carried away."

Sam didn't waste time at this point with the disemboweling, there wasn't time. He removed her head quickly and efficiently, then moved to his brother's side. "Dean?" He said, as he took his pulse.

Dean moaned weakly and Bianca waved in two of her men. "Let's get him to a hospital." She said. "And remember this, Sam. For when the council is reformed," for the current members HAD to go now, how dare they challenge her and break treaties like that? "I'm not YOUR enemy."

"Thank you. I will remember." He said picking up Max before she could bite one of the vampires picking up Dean. He gave them the name of a hospital in town. Not the one they had taken John too, too many questions. "Let's get him checked out there then on the plane home. We'll need to put the Impala in the cargo as well." Dean would get better treatment in Chicago. Preferential treatment in Chicago. Here he was just another man. "It's okay... we're gonna get you home... they can't hurt you any more." He told his brother.

"Sam?" Dean said weakly when he was jostled back into consciousness. Max barked, glad Dean could at least say that. "Hey, Maxie..." He said, acknowledging his dog.

Bianca shook her head. "He's not feeling much of anything right now, he's higher than any Hollywood starlet."

"Yeah, we're gonna get you taken care of." Sam said as they got him into the car. "Then get you home. Dad's gonna be okay. Sent him back to Chicago for treatment."

Dean nodded vaguely as he was laid in the back seat, Mutt moving to the front seat to make room, while Max stood guard over Dean, her little posture stiff and angry.

"Travel safe, Sam." Bianca said. "The council wasn't that concerned about your safety either."

"When I get back I need to meet with you." He told her. "There is a lot you need to know. If you are going to war against the council." Sam said as he got into the driver's seat. "Don't do anything until I get there. If you don't want to wait, I'll tell Harry to fill you in."

"I'm Red Court, not an animal like Black Court. I don't do anything rashly." She said with a smile as she leaned over Dean's unconscious form and kissed him deeply on the mouth. "That will get him to the hospital in relative comfort." She said as she moved to go to her own vehicle.

And that worried Sam more than gave him comfort. The fact that he was already so very addicted to the vampire's kiss. Just another way to make him vulnerable. He wondered if the spell already over him would lessen the impact of the addiction. Or at least the emotional power a vampire could have over him.

He drove to a hospital and once more hailed an orderly with a gurney. Thankfully it wasn't the same hospital he had taken John to the day before. 


	13. Chapter 13

Connie Murphy was sitting in an overly large chair, her feet on another chair, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. She didn't know why she let Harry talk her into this, but she had. So she was babysitting his cousins' father, Harry's uncle in a way she supposed, even if that thought never seemed to cross his mind.

But so far it had been an easy time. She'd read the paper, watched TV and read another paper. The large man in the bed barely moved a muscle.

John came to slowly. Not moving, doing what he could to keep his breathing steady. Which wasn't easy considering how much it hurt to breathe. He didn't know who the woman was sitting there, but he was keenly aware of the lack of his sons presence in the room.

He sat up slowly and began to remove the tape that held the IV tubing in place. "Who the hell are you, and where are my boys?" He asked, pausing in what he was doing long enough for the room to stop moving then started at it again.

Connie was out of her chair and pushing his hands away from his IV. She was stronger than she looked, and he wasn't as strong as he looked, not right now. "I'm Connie Murphy. A friend of your sons. And Sam is off getting Dean right now. Now settle down or I swear I'll knock you out before the nurses can get in here." He didn't look the type that could be talked down with sweet words and soft tones.

John laughed roughly at that. "How do you know Sam and Dean? Didn't think they knew anyone out here." He said shugging out of her grip, and turning three shades paler for the trouble.

"You're back in Chicago, buddy." Connie said. "Now are you going to leave that IV alone, or am I going to have to cuff you? Because you don't think I'm letting you misbehave while I'm here, do you?" She handed him a glass of water. "I've known Sam and Dean for a while now."

"I am not gonna sit here in this bed while they are out there...what the hell do you mean I am back in Chicago? How long have I been out?" He demanded, not liking the sound of that at all. "And where is Dean that Sam has to go and get him?"

"You know, I didn't ask. I've been here on and off for two days though." Connie said. "Sam called, he's got Dean, they're headed back here now. He had to be stabilized at a local hospital, just like you were, and then brought here." She'd leave the real gory details for Sam. But she turned on the TV to the local station, where the news was on.

"And today your local weather for the Greater Chicago area..." the weatherman intoned.

"Are you gonna calm down now? Cause you are sitting in that bed until Sam comes in and relieves me, got it?"

"Are you this pushy with everyone or is there something about me that makes people want to break out the hand cuffs?" Guns, rock salt optional, two by fours.

Connie lifted an eyebrow. "Why? If I broke out the sweet smile and the chocolate cupcakes, would you have even paused to listen before gunning for the door?" She asked, going back to her newspaper. She was good at reading people, it was part of her job. It made her good at her job.

He laughed a little, even if he didn't feel it. "I suppose not. Although I might have grabbed a cupcake on the way out the door." He said and opened a drawer looking for his cell phone, wanting to call Sam and check on Dean.

"Sorry, fresh out of cupcakes. Anna took them all to school." Connie said, flipping a page. "And no cell phones in a hospital. Your room phone is turned on though."

"Anna your daughter?" He asked as he picked up the phone and dialed 9 before Sam's cell phone number, then swore hearing that he was out of range. He could only hope that mean the was airborne and on his way back.

"Yes, she's nine." Connie said. "By the way, I'm Connie Murphy. Sam must be on his way back." Which would be of great relief to Harry.

"I'm John... under better circumstances I would say it's a pleasure to meet you. Right now... not finding a whole lot pleasurable. So... you've known them a while... betting you don't have a great image of me in your head." He said visibly fidgeting. He wanted to be doing something. To be out there helping. What if something had gone wrong on the way back? He wouldnt put anything past this so called council at this point.

"I don't have any image of you." Connie said truthfully. "Probably when Anna's old enough, she'll have some tales of me to tell. Because of that, I tend to block out whatever the kids say. Because it's biased." But she grinned as she saw him fidget. "But I can see where Dean gets his inability to sit still from."

He sighed. "I hate sitting here, unable to do anything. I let them down out there. Now Dean is hurt because of it." He adjusted in the bed gingerly. "I need to be out there."

"Okay." Connie said and held up her key ring. "If you think, in your condition, you can take me, you're free to go. I'll think of some excuse to tell them. Of course, Sam's on his way back, you don't know where they are, and you'd pass out in my car, but who's telling?"

"Never argue logic with a desperate man. " John said with a frustrated sigh. It wasn't that he didnt think he could take her. He had gotten up in worse shape and killed monsters. It was the fact that he probably would pass out in the car before getting anywhere near where his sons were that kept him in his bed.

"That's the most enjoyable time to do it." Connie said with a laugh. "They're fine, or fine within reason. Or Sam would have called for back up." Especially with Dean's life on the line.

"I hope so. It's hard to say with Sam. Neither Winchesters or Morningways are known for their willingness to wait. Sam has somehow found a way to be both, and uncompromising about either."

"He's a good kid." Connie assured John. "They both are. Even if I feel this urge to wash Dean's mouth out with soap most of the time. And sometimes, I get pretty close."

"Yeah well don't hold it against him too much. He spent his formative years being raised by a marine." John said with a faint chuckle. Although truth be told he didn't swear as much as his son and was less fixated on the word Bitch. It seemed to roll off his eldest boy's tongue on a disturbingly regular basis. Fortunately he didnt seem to have the tendancy to fling it at women as an insult.

Connie laughed. "So that's the reason." She said. "Well, he's got some colorful turns of phrase, though he seems to linger on son of a bitch." She said.

John chuckled. "Yeah he heard that word once and was fixated on it from that moment on." It hadn't been so amusing when sitting in one of the rare sit down restaurants they had been able to go to, he exclaimed 'son of a bitch' when spilling his hot cocoa. Of course there hadn't been a lot he could say when the lad had popped up with 'but that's what you say when you knock something over!'

"It's amazing what kids pick up." Connie said with a laugh. "I mean, I'm constantly watching what I say and who I say it to, because Anna's got ears like a bat I swear. Girl hears me cuss all the way across town."

John laughed. "He got it from me, from Bobby, from Joshua... everyone but Pastor Jim. I think he picked up a few things from the various hotel managers." He said shaking his head "So how old is your daughter?"

"She's nine. So far I've managed to keep her sheltered. If she knew what Mommy really dealt with all day, not sure she'd go to sleep at night anymore." Connie said. Werewolves, vampires, spirits...she was surprised SHE could sleep at night.

"Kids are pretty resilient. They know more than we think they do. But it's good that you are able to keep her innocent for as long as possible." He wished he had been able to do that, but he had been too convinced that to do so would leave his children unprepared and vulnerable.

"Then again, my kid doesn't have demons chasing after her, so it's a bit easier." Connie said. Harry had told her about Dean's drunken confession, and the truth about Jessica Moore's death.

"Hopefully no uber powerful brothers in law either." John said with a sigh. If she knew that much, she knew it all. "So what is it you do that you have to deal with so much, without bringing it home with you?"

Connie had to grin into her paper. 'No matter what, don't tell my dad you're a cop.' Sam had said. Because apparently he'd react 'badly.' Well, she wasn't ashamed of her job, and saw no reason to lie. "I'm a cop." She said simply.

"A cop?" John asked. "Hmm... wouldn't have figured you for a cop." Especially not with her knowing about demons and the like. Usually that meant dealing with hunters eventually and cops had a bad habit of trying to arrest hunters or toss them in psych wards.

"Don't worry, I could hand you your ass with one hand tied behind my back." Connie said. "Yeah, special investigations. The cases they 'can't figure out' because they won't look outside the box. Hooked up with Harry, next thing you know I'm chasing down werewolves and making sure I don't step all over any vampiric treaties."

"Wizards and their treaties. Didn't used to have to worry about those things... until my son turned up and turned out to be a wizard." John said and grinned at Connie. "Don't get too confident there, never underestimate an opponent... not even one that can barely sit up."

"Right back atcha." Connie said. She was used to being underestimated. Usually worked to her advantage. She had enough hand to hand training that she could probably give Dean a good run for his money if they ever got into it. Luckily they hadn't, because she'd hate to cheat and render him impossible to provide John with any grandkids one day!

And there in was the difference. It was why John was confident that he could take all comers. Because he didn't figure on violence until it was necessary to win at all costs. There was no such thing as fighting fair. No such thing as cheating. You fought to win, you fought to stay alive, or to keep those you love alive.

"I wouldn't dream of underestimating you." John said with a grin.

"Good." Connie said. "Because I'd hate to have to hurt you. Because you know Dean wouldn't let you live it down that you got beat up by a girl."

"I don't know... I was able to take Dean, so I think he might have to keep his mouth shut about that little embarrassment." He said with a laugh. "After all, what would that say?"

"Oh I'm sure he'd come up with something." Connie said. Dean had a mouth on him that wouldn't quit. So he definitely would think of something, at least until Sam asked him in a little boy voice to just quit.

John chuckled and grinned a bit. "Yeah... he would... so... how bad was he that he had to be stablized before travel?" He asked, bluntly.

Connie winced. "You sure you want to know? At least before you know the prognosis?" She asked just as bluntly.

John paled. That there was a prognosis... that alone didn't reassure him. "Tell me everything you know. Would you want to wait to find out if it were Anna?" John had spent enough time wondering at his son's fate, he didn't think he could handle any more of it.

Connie breathed. If this happened to Anna, she wasn't sure---honestly---if she'd ever want to know.

"All right. When he was captured, he was taken back to a vampire nest. And tortured. Involving lots of cuts and vampire saliva, which I'm told is like a narcotic. He wasn't conscious when he was found. He came around for about five seconds, then he was back out." Connie said carefully. "Right now, if he's not in the air, he's still getting blood transfusions."

John swore and reached for the phone again. He had to find out how he was doing. If Sam didn't answer, he would track down the hospital and find out.

He sat up and ran a hand through his hair, and apologized for the next string of invective that followed no answer on Sam's cell phone yet again.

"So, feel better now that you know?" Connie asked, watching John. Ready to take him down if the man moved toward the door. "They're probably in the air."

"Better? No. But at least I'm not creating images in my mind that are worse... with what I've seen it wouldn't be hard." He stood up and quickly sat back down, realizing all that he was wearing was a hospital gown. Hard to pace in one of those without flashing the woman who was put there to apparently keep him put.

"As soon as they know, Sam will call." Connie said. "Or wheel him right in here for all I know." She could understand the not knowing for sure, how it could be killing him. As a parent, she could relate to that, even if the circumstances in which their kids could get into various amounts of trouble were far different.

"Yeah, I know. I think we were set up." He confided. "And that worries me. Because right now those boys trust to some degree the man I think did it."

"Ah. The illustrious Justin Morningway." Connie said. "Been manipulated by that man myself. I was the one who got the order to exhume him." She said. Of course it was part of a homicide investigation, she'd nearly arrested Harry over it all.

"Can just bet how his doppleganger got that one pulled off." He grumbled. "What's dead should stay dead." He shook his head. "The man was always slimy. My wife... " even after all this time, he looked grief stricken when he spoke of Mary, "couldn't get away from him fast enough. She never wanted our children to even meet her family. You can see how well that worked out."

Mary. His wife that had died. No, been killed at the hands of a demon. Harry had told her about that. Well, about Dean's perception of it anyway. "Yeah, that has to be impossible." She said. "I know Dean still feels it." Feels guilt he shouldn't have to, but she figured John didn't even know about that.

"Something's stay with you forever, no matter what you do or how far you have moved on." Not that John had moved on. He had been nearing a point where he could when his boys had been taken. From that point on the only thing that had kept him alive was the hunt. Nothing else gave him a good enough excuse not to put the next bullet in his own brain.

"And sometimes you hold onto something so hard, and so tight, that it seriously screws you up." Connie said. "And that's not right either."

"Yeah I know... but it's easier said than done to get rid of some things." In some ways the disappearance of his sons had done more to screw him up than the death of his wife. The combination had left John broken. Not in the way that he was sure Justin wanted. But broken. He was nothing like the man that had fallen in love with Mary Morningway. He wasn't even close to the same man that had fathered two beautiful children.

"I'd suggest a big old round of group therapy for you guys, but I'd fear for the poor therapist when you guys start talking." Connie said with a chuckle.

"Oh yeah." John said. "We'd all wind up in straight jackets on a thorazine drip." He shook his head. "And that's for the mild stuff, cause people just don't want to believe it's actually out there."

"Okay, Special Investigations? That's where they ship out the cold cases and cases that don't make sense. It's also pretty much a punishment to get shipped out there to handle them." Connie said. "I'm the first one to take it seriously and then go and hire the only wizard listed in the phonebook as a consultant."

John chuckled. "Gotta hand it to Dresden. He's got balls going about it that way." He shook his head a little. "Bet that brings alot of flakes to his door too. What made you figure he was for real?"

"The part in the ad where he said he doesn't do parties." Connie said with a laugh. "It was just a feeling. I'm a great judge of character." Had to be, in her job. Where you had to decide who to arrest and who to hold.

"Probably. Harry and I clash but hes an alright guy. Good man to have at my boys' backs. It's unfortunate they need him there as much as they do."

"Well, telling Dean to live quietly and safely is like asking the Pope to convert." Connie said. "Sam, I don't know. Before Jessica died, I had him painted into the white picket fence life, even if there was a two wand rack rather than a two car garage."

John nodded. "Yeah... there's still hope for him in that regard. Once he's had a little time to... to get past it and on with his life. Give him a couple years."

Connie raised an eyebrow. "Oh boy. Pot and kettle." She said. "Get past it? I can't believe you of all people said that with a straight face."

"Because Sam is already ahead of the game. He is able to think and function, and interact. I don't think I was as well adjusted as he is until... just before I lost the boys. Ironically just as I was starting to crawl out of the haze." He shook his head. "Sam is going to make it. Not gonna ever really stop hurting but he's gonna pull through. Just watch."

"That's because Sam has a Dean." Connie said. "You had a Dean, problem was he wasn't much more than a baby then."

"I had a 4 year old and a 6 month old. Most people would think that would be the key to holding on... my boys. I suppose they were the reason I was able to hold on as well as I did... which wasn't well, if we are being honest here."

"So you've got them back, they're now in their twenties now, but they're back in your life. So where does that leave you?" She asked bluntly. "I mean, you said you were getting it together right before they were taken, and them being taken was a major setback. Now they're not taken. They're here." Except of course if Dean wasn't fine.

"I don't know. Taking it a day at a time." He said finding it easy to talk to this woman. Probably because she didn't pull her punches. Ironically that was easier to take from her than anyone else... except maybe Bobby. "Been living from hunt to hunt... trying to get into some sort of stable relationship with them, but with Justin back, that's getting harder to do. Dean seems to think that if we don't get along like long lost friends it's putting him in the middle. I've never liked the son of a bitch. Having him be the one that took my sons, to be honest I want to put him back in his damned grave."

"Sounds like my relationship with Anna's father." She said and held up her hand. "Hear me out." She said. "We both take part in raising her. But there's a reason we're divorced, in fact, I can barely stand the sight of the man. But Anna loves us both. So there are times we're forced to be civil. Dean probably does feel in the middle, you're his father that raised him. He damn near worships you. But Justin also raised him too. So it's nearly like you two are divorced."

"I'm trying. I know it doesn't look like it to the boys, but the man hasn't been physically harmed which is damned near a herculean feat on my part. Son of a bitch keeps rubbing it in that I was a bad father and how he has given the boys so much." He shook his head. "And explaining the reality of the situation sounds like a frigging cop out."

"Then don't explain it." Connie said. "Just don't rise to the bait. You should try this, just smile politely and thank him for taking care of your boys until you could get back. Might throw him for a loop.

John chuckled. "There is that." He said. "Although if he is responsible for that debauchle out there... I don't know that it will be possible."

"I'm hoping he's not." Connie said. Because it would cut Harry and his cousins deeply. Especially given that Dean was hurt during it. "Doesn't make sense though. Justin's apparently wanting Dean on the front line for the take over of the council," and she still couldn't believe she was discussing this seriously, and not inebriated, "why would he chance the soldier getting hurt before the main event?"

"I think he underestimated things. Figured I would be the one to go down protecting the boys and that Dean would be more worried about getting Sam and the box to safety. He also figures Dean is unstoppable because that was what he was trying to create when he shoved him into all that training. "John shook his head. "I couldn't get the boy out of there. We got Sam moving with the sepulcher, but he wouldn't go, even when I went down. Justin didn't figure on there being any bond between us any more." John was proud of his sons, but he was feeling more than a little guilty that Dean had sacrificed himself.

"Dean is pretty much unstoppable when he gets his mind to something." Connie said. "Like a hurricane crashing into the mainland, he just keeps going." Probably even when he had nothing left to give. "He'll be fine."

"Yeah well apparently they stopped him. Maybe not permenantly but they stopped him...and they hurt him. That was just vampires. Vampires are the peons of the demonic world. Probably why they ally themselves with Wizards." John pointed out. "But they stopped him. They manage to stop a lot of hunters. No shame in it for Dean, trust me on that, but how is he supposed to take on the council's hit men and come through the other side? Justin doesn't care what happens to these boys so long as he gets his shot at being merlin."

"Because Dean was focused on one thing? And that was keeping the boxes and you two as safe as he could. Made him forget a bit about himself. As far as he's concerned, they didn't stop him. He succeeded. The boxes are safe, and you and Sam are fine." Connie pointed out.

"Yeah well... Dean's perception is skewed about some things." John said. It was never okay for his boy to be hurt. It was never okay for him to sacrifice himself like that. That wasn't the time to make himself a hero. He should have done what Justin expected him to do. "Thing is... no one outside of me and the boys knew where the box was, except for Harry and Justin. Harry wouldn't risk the counsel getting that box and he sure as hell wouldn't turn on my boys. That leaves Justin. Who loves taking calculated risks with other people."

"It's not possible at all that the man who had the box let someone else know?" Connie asked. "You're the only one in the whole world that he ever talked to?"

"Daniel Elkins was seriously paranoid. He barely said hello to anyone he hasn't known for years. He was a vampire hunter. They are a strange breed even amongst hunters. Because you never know if the person you were speaking to at the bar the night before is a vampire or addicted to the vampire's bite. Even your best friend could turn up undead. No... he wouldn't talk about it to anyone else."

Connie nodded. "Okay, so Justin probably was behind it." She said. "Will be interesting to see how this plays out."

"Not a single way can possibly be good." John said. They needed him in order to get the sepulchers from the council. Which meant they would have to play him... if the boys could understand his reasoning.. or even be willing to accept that Justin was behind it.

"No, it probably won't be." Connie agreed. "But it's on hold right now anyway, Dean needs some recuperation time. So do you. Whether you guys want to take it or not." Hence, Connie on babysitting duty.

John nodded. He wasn't up to a full scale battle and wouldn't take one on that he didn't have to in his condition anyway. If he had to he could bring it just as hard and fast as ever. "I know. The trick is to keep them safe in the mean time."

TMATMATMATMATMATMATMATMATMATMATMATMATMATMATMATMA

Dean came to once they hit Chicago. He was in the jet, with Sammy, three nurses, a flight surgeon and a doctor. "Where's Dad?" He asked. He saw Sam, but not his father.

"I sent Dad on to Chicago before I was able to find you. Sorry that took so long. He's okay. A little banged up but okay." Sam said reassuring him. "You need to rest though, so... just take it easy."

"The package? It's out of sight?" He asked, as he tried to stay conscious. He hated flying. "I don't need rest, I need to get off this damn plane before it crashes."

"Plane isn't going to crash. The package is in the trunk of the car which is in the ... trunk of the plane." He said with a smile. "Get some rest. We're landing here in a few minutes. Then you can get off the plane. Not before." He teased lightly.

"The car better not be scratched." Dean mumbled. "Or I'll hand you your ass, Sam. I mean it."

"It's the painkillers talking." A nurse said helpfully.

Sam laughed. "No it's not... that is my brother talking. The only thing he loves as much as his car is his dog." He knew better. He knew he was higher on the list but it was a running joke. "And even Max has to be careful of the car. She isn't scratched."

"I know where Maxie and Sammy are." Dean mumbled. Max was squished between the railings of the gurney and his leg. Sam was talking. He idly wondered how much of a fuss his dog had put up before she was allowed to fly with him. "Can't see my car or my dad."

"Yeah well, they are both fine... the car is in better shape than Dad, but Dad is fine. Murphy is keeping an eye on him. Making sure he stays in his hospital bed."

Dean laughed as much as he could. "Dude, Dad's got a MILF as a babysitter." He said, still cracking up.

Sam thought about it for a moment. "You know... might do him some good." He said with a grin. "Something other than the family business and his dog to fill his time."

"Yeah, go tell Murph to her face that she's a time filler. We'll see how much of your face you get to keep." Dean said with a laugh as he felt the plane start to descend.

"Glad to see you are feeling better." Sam said with a laugh. "And I didn't mean it quite like that. Although not sure she would take that I want her to date our father any better. Especially not if she has been dealing with him in pain and not able to get out of bed."

"I'm feeling great." Dean said as the plane finally taxied to a stop. "Take my car to the hospital, okay Sam? Actually, take it to the house, and then catch a ride to the hospital. Poor baby's been through enough."

"Fine I will take your car home." He said, figuring it would be safe enough there. "Once I am sure you are settled in and that Max doesn't need a ride home."

"Which hospital am I going to?" He asked the EMT and grinned when told. "Dude, I basically own that hospital. Max isn't going anywhere. First stop is Dad's room. You said he was banged up?"

"Yeah, he's gonna be okay though. Figured we would put you both into the same room otherwise you two will be running up and down the hall all the time anyway."

"Probably a good idea." Dean said as they were loaded into the ambulance to take them to the hospital. Fifteen minutes later, Dean looked at his father. "Dude, you look like shit." He said drowsily.

A look of relief flooded John Winchester's face "Yeah, must be that strong family resemblance." He said. "You doing alright, son? Don't lie to me."

"I'll be fine." Dean said as he was transferred into the bed. Max hopped up on the bed as Mutt came into the room behind her. "Sam got me out of there, he knew he couldn't handle Maxie on his own."

Mutt hopped up on John's bed and went straight to licking his face and his tail wagging excitedly. "Easy there ... easy. I'm alright." He said, chuckling a little as he got the happy dog to finally curl up beside him. "Did Sam go home?" He asked.

"Not yet." Sam said as he entered the room. "Just wanted to make sure you guys were settled before taking a few things home. "

"Sam... " John began.

"Don't worry. It's secure." He said reassuring his father.

"Dude, what did you do to my car?" Dean asked tiredly. The trip, even if he'd been unconscious for most of it, was draining. And things were hurting. Really down deep, as if he was withdrawing from something. "Dude, you screwed with my car! Dad, he screwed with the car."

"Nothing will happen to the trunk of your car, unless it rains ... a lot... before I can get it cleaned out." Sam said with a grin. "But some how I don't think that's going to happen." He was going to secure the items at Harry's when he left here, and leave the trunk boobytrapped. It was a test really. And he was looking forward to the aftermath if Justin failed.

"You screwed with my car..." Dean said, shaking his head.

Connie laughed. "Your dad was very well behaved." She assured Sam. "I didn't have to hurt him."

"Only because we figured you were on your way here." John said. "And exactly what did you do to the trunk of the car?" It might be Dean's car now but that car had been his special baby for years before it was Dean's.

Sam chuckled and explained the trap he had set up and his current plans. Which got John to laughing, and then groaning because it hurt his ribs.

"Salt! You put salt on my car!" Dean bemoaned. "God, just knock me out now."

"Boys and their toys. Makes me glad I have a girl." Connie said. "Speaking of which, I have a tea party with Barbie and Snoopy in a half hour."

"Have fun." Sam said. "Thanks for keeping Dad in place." He then turned his attention to Dean. "It's in a carpeted area, and isn't gonna cause any trouble unless it gets seriously wet and ignored for a while. Besides it was for the greater good. And now it's... for my vindictive streak. "

"Dude, just go punch Justin in the face. Leave my car out of it." Dean said. The car was going back to the estate, the only one there that could tamper with it was Justin, so that's how Dean figured that part out. "Think we can go home tomorrow? I'm sick of hospitals."

"Depends on what the doctors have to say." Sam said and let the conversation about the car drop. "You lost a lot of blood and how can you be sick of the hospital when you just now woke up? You haven't been here an hour yet."

"Hour too long." Dean grumbled. "I can recuperate at home." He said and groaned as he tried to sit up, all the wounds aggravated by the most simple of movements. And his head was pounding, like the worst hangover he'd ever had.

"Obviously not. " Sam pointed out. "Don't make me interrupt Murphy's tea party so that I can go secure the boxes. You know she wouldn't like it."

"Don't do that. She might bring Anna here and make us participate in the tea party." Dean said, then laughed at the image of his father holding a tiny toy tea cup and offering sugar to a stuffed Snoopy doll.

"Good, then it's settled. You are going to stay put. And if you haven't stayed put, I will enchant the bed to keep you in place. Can't use magic on you but the bed is fair game." It was fun... god knew Dean had been bossy enough with him over the years. At least it was fun now that his brother had the strength to fight back.

"Dude, that's low." Dean said, laying back against the pillows and sliding his eyes over to his father. "Daaaad. Sammy's being mean to me."

"Can't imagine where he learned that from." John said with a twinkle in his eyes. "Not a clue about that one." He knew that there had been times when Dean had been forced to use underhanded tactics to keep little Sammy in line.

"Fine, take his side." Dean grumbled as he fell back asleep before the doctor came in. He looked at Sam and John and sighed.

"The blood transfusions held off the detoxing." He said. He was on Dean's payroll, and 'in' on alot of things that went on in Dean's world. He had to have someone who would give him scripts for pain meds and antibiotics, and stitch up the wounds he couldn't reach after all. "When he does, it's going to be painful. And it's going to be painful to watch. I really suggest moving him to an isolated room when it happens."

"I'm his father. I'm not going anywhere if he is going to be going through hell." John said firmly. He wasn't going to abandon his son to go through that alone.

The doctor shrugged. "All right." He said. "Don't say I didn't warn you. There will be screaming. And convulsing. And vomiting."

He nodded "I know. Like coming down off of hard core opium addiction. He isn't going through that alone." It was going to hurt to watch it, but John figured if anyone could handle it, it was going to be him.

It took three days for Dean to detox. He was out of it for most of it, and covered both him and John with vomit, or blood when his wounds would burst open from his thrashing. When lucid, he'd beg John to just put a bullet in his head. But, finally, pale and spent, it was out of his system.

The doctor had restricted visitors during that time, because Dean couldn't afford the stimulation. And he knew Dean would be mortified if people saw him like that. But John stayed the entire time, even after the doctor cleared him to leave. He and Sam would take turns holding Dean still in his convulsions (surprisingly strong even in illness, even John needed a bodily break from that, even if he didn't go far). And both refused to put him out of his misery.

On the third day, Justin looked at Sam. "Is your brother up to visitors yet?" He said, knowing full well what Dean was going through, but knew better than to mention it bluntly.

"Not yet. The worst is over but he is going to need time to stop vibrating from it all. He needs his space." Sam said. "So did you manage to get all the rock salt out? Or are there still a few pieces I need to dig out for you?"

Justin frowned. He'd never admitted he was the one who opened the trunk. And he was still sore from it all. Still, he'd never admit to it. "Samuel, I'm fine." He said instead. "But thank you for your concern. I'm going to assume the box is in a safe place, perhaps Harry's?"

"It's safe." He said, and figured he would call Harry on his way to the hospital and have him move it somewhere. "And who said it was concern? I was really looking forward to digging them out."

Justin sighed. "So you've decided to hate me after all." He asked as he drank his tea. "Have to admit, I'm disappointed."

"You set us up. You have no right to be disappointed. After what Dean has been through, you don't get to be anything right now. I trusted you. I made the mistake of trusting you again. Don't expect it to happen a third time. As for hating you... no. I don't. If I hated you, you would be dead again. "

Justin frowned. "Samuel, it seems you've come to expect the worst of me. Perhaps fallen to your father's propaganda machine. I admit, I've gone reprehenisble things in the past." He said. "I've never denied that. But to accuse me of almost killing Dean is going too far."

"The council sent the vampires after the box. No one else knew where it was but us... and you. So you tell me who told the council where to find it. You weren't trying to kill me or Dean. You were trying to get rid of Dad. You figured Dean and I would get the box out safely and Dad would keep the vamps busy... maybe go down in the fight."

"The council could have followed you." He pointed out. "Or had you followed. Must there always be conspiracies just because John Winchester says there is?"

"By vampires?" Sam asked. "And Dad was unconscious in a hospital bed when I figured it out." He told him. "While I was trying to get information on how to track down the vampires that had Dean, I found out that the council was using vampires for their schemes. Don't treat me like an idiot. This war with the council is not in your hands any longer. You want to be part of it, that's fine. But you don't get to gain from it. You don't get to gain from Dean's pain. I won't let that happen."

"Why would I want to gain from Dean's pain?" Justin asked, honestly puzzled. "You truly think I'm that cold hearted?" Dean's pain and recovery distressed Justin greatly. And honestly. "I am not the bad guy."

"You don't get it, do you? You just don't frigging get it. You took your calculated risk. Tried to stay on the council's good side while still getting away with the box and Dean and Dad paid the price. That makes you the bad guy. Maybe not the worst guy but definitely the bad guy."

Justin put his teacup down and stood up, looking at Sam. "I am not the bad guy in this scenario, no matter how you spin it. Though with your gift for spin, you should work in the office's public relations department. But your new attitude saddens me, Samuel. It really does. And what it could mean for your future, blanketing yourself in such bitterness."

"It means I won't get suckered in again." Sam told him honestly. "You killed Harry's father, you set us up to be kidnapped from our father, told us he was dead, let him believe we were dead... you trained us for this battle with the council. Not to keep us safe, but to make sure we were able to bring you out on top. You were going to sacrifice Harry's life to bring yourself back. If Bob hadn't turned on Branwen and sacrificed himself, you would have. And you expect me to believe that part of you is gone now? That you aren't the same conniving bastard that you once were? I'm not an idiot. Not spinning a damned thing. Just calling it as I see it."

"I am also the man that put up with Dean's numerous expulsions and fights. That helped you out of your shell when you were younger. That supported Harry no matter what his decision was." Justin countered. "I made sure you wanted for nothing. Nothing material, nothing monetary, nothing magical, and nothing attention wise. Humans are complex creatures, Samuel. If you honestly believe I gave as much of myself as I did for no other reason than a far distant agenda, then you are 'spinning' and don't even realize it."

"You're right. Humans are complex. You gave a great deal, and I have always been and always will be grateful for that, but our lives were a lie from the moment we came here. The end does not justify the means. Not now, not ever. The fact that you loved us doesn't change the fact that you used us. First against our father and now for this last fiasco. You used us to keep the sepulcher safe while you played your games with the council. You don't set out to cause us pain, Justin. You just succeed really well. The fact that you didn't mean it doesn't mean that it didn't happen. Or that it won't happen again the next time you decide to play russian roulette. So I'm sorry. No I don't trust you. I'm not spinning things. I'm protecting my family."

"And I will protect my family as well." Justin said. "Someday, you will understand. I just hope that I'm here to see the realization dawning in your eyes."

"I pray that I never understand your point of view. That I never turn my family or children into pawns." He turned on his heel then and walked away.

Justin watched him walk away and shook his head. One day, Sam would understand. It was in him to understand.

Sam called Harry on his way down the freeway and told him that Justin knew where the box was, so he should relocate it someplace safe. He sighed heavily as he parked the car. He didn't hate his uncle. Just couldn't trust him. He didn't do anything to build that trust either.

He pasted a smile on his face as he entered his brother's room, John no longer a patient, was seated in a chair this time, drinking what was probably his 8th cup of coffee.

Dean was playing with a bowl of tasteless broth. "It's safe to come in." He said hoarsely to Sam. "Haven't thrown up in six hours. I think that's a record."

"Hey it's a start." Sam said as he settled down on a near by chair and started handing out treats to the dogs. "Justin exploded the trunk. So I had it detailed. You will be happy to know there are no side effects of the trap on your car."

"My trunk exploded?" Dean asked. "Dude, who detailed it? Are you sure nothing happened to the car? All that salt..."

"Yup, he's feeling better." John said with a low laugh.

"The trunk didn't so much explode as the rock salt did when the trunk was opened without the right spell." Sam said with a grin. "And I had the people at the house detail it the way you like."

"Better have, bitch. You know, you don't want to trust Justin and all. That's fine. I'm not even going to defend the man. But you used MY car as a vindictive tool. That is just so freaking wrong." Dean said, shaking his head as he gave the broth to Max, who sniffed it and turned her nose up at it.

"It was a test... that he failed, and is pouting about." Sam said with a sigh. "Wont admit to a thing, and seems to think that he doesn't deserve my mistrust." He rolled his eyes. "Two plus two is still four. But apparently Justin is not on a base 10 system."

"All your base are belong to us." Dean said with a laugh, quoting a badly translated video game from decade or so ago. "Dude, next time, use your own car. Or Harry's."

Sam looked at him in confusion, not having played video games as a child. John however started laughing.

"That was bad." His father said in amusement.

"I think I missed something somewhere."

"Video game. From Japan, called Zero Wing or something like that, the game kinda sucked, but they rushed out the production, so all the dialogue was translated incredibly badly. All your base belong to us." Dean said, laughing. "Okay, so it blew up in Justin's face. That really sucks. Guess we know where his thoughts were. Wonder what he was going to do with the boxes?"

"Make sure that he had them secure I am sure. Or at least the sepulcher. I don't think he really thinks beyond what he wants at the moment. He's got his plans and his schemes and a little thing like love isn't going to get in the way of that. But because he loves us...and has given so much... I'm supposed to just say oh it's okay dont worry about it."

"That sounds like Justin." Dean said, shaking his head. "Hey, did you bring me food?" He asked. Six hours without throwing up and he was starving. "Okay, so we need our own plan. Unfortunately, Justin is still our ticket into the council to get the rest of them sepulchers."

"Yeah I know." Sam said. " You up to being the one that still likes him? Cause I don't know that he would believe me right now and Harry would choke on his tongue trying."

Dean nodded. "Not hard. After all I've been through, I just won't remember anything." He said with a quirk of a grin. "Last thing I remember is leaving on a trip to get the sepulchers with you shot gun and Dad in the back seat. Next thing I know I'm waking up here. It'll work like a charm." Not that he'd ever forget any of it.

"Sounds like a plan. We can stage an argument or two, and I can stay a couple nights with Harry. It'll work like a charm."

"Probably. He'll think he's playing me like a fiddle when he's actually the fiddle." Dean said. "So you two better go. Justin's probably on his way here. Pay off a nurse to say we had a big blow out and you two were kicked out for my health."

"Come on, Dad, let's head over to Harry's. Mutt looks like he seriously needs a long walk anyway." Sam said as he led the way out. "I seriously feel left out. I need a dog." He said jokingly.

Dean waited for Justin. Not like he had the energy to do much of anything else. He had his own nurse, a stern all business middle aged woman. Probably someone his brother had appointed, someone he couldn't charm and walk all over. Smart Sammy. But she was still easily paid off to invent an argument and throwing the rest of his family out. So she stopped Justin half way down the hall.

"Excuse me." She said. "I can't allow any more visitors to Mr Winchester today. He's already been upset enough for twenty four hours."

"Upset? What's happened?" Justin asked with a concerned frown. "Is he alright? I'm his uncle."

"I've had to forcibly remove his brother and his father. And I don't get paid enough for this." The nurse said sternly. "He can't be upset like this! As much as he denies it, his physical condition right now is much too delicate."

"I wish I could say I am surprised by his father's involvement in upsetting him. His brother however... well, I am sure Sam will come to his senses about such things soon enough. I won't upset him at all, but I would very much like to see him."

"Louise, it's fine." Dean called out. Louise pinched her lips together and nodded, stepping aside. Dean was pale, shadows under his eyes, but he gave Justin a wan smile. "You're not hear to start with me, are ya? Cause Max is in a biting mood."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Justin said as he came in and sat down in a chair. "I would have come sooner but you weren't allowed visitors."

"Yeah, that was the doc. Too much stimulation while detoxing apparently is bad. I wasn't very good company anyway." Dean said. "What with all the vomiting and convulsing. It was worth it since we got the boxes."

"So I have heard. Boxes? There was more than one? I thought he only had one sepulcher." Justin said with a frown. He knew nothing about the colt.

"Something Dad was working on, nothing to do with sepulchers." Dean said. "I think the other one is what the vamps were after." He shook his head. "It was a mess."

"Ah, I see." He chose not to mention the rest of it. Let Dean approach it as he willed. It couldn't be good for him to endure any more stress. "Other than being put through the ringer, how are you doing?" He asked.

"Oh, other than that." Dean said, chuckling. "Other than that, I'm good. The evening nurse is cute. Louise is a little stern...hey, you know, she's single. About your age."

"I am not looking for a companion at this late date." He said with a smile. "You know... what ever it was you and Sam fought over... it will pass in time. You two never stay angry for long."

"Yeah, maybe." Dean said and picked at the sheet covering his legs. "I don't know, it's the blind devotion to a man that abandoned us." He shook his head. "I get it, you kidnapped us, told us he was dead, told him we were dead...doesn't change the fact that he was the one that turned around and walked out on us, leaving us with those weird strangers. You don't do that to your kids! And then you especially don't get to come back twenty five years later and say we were your only reason for living and all that crap. We go to that cabin cause 'Dad says' we gotta. We get delayed cause 'Dad says' we gotta pick something else up. I end up captured by fucking vampires and tortured for two days, because 'Dad says.' I'm just sick of it is all."

"Sam doesn't remember." Justin said. "Sam doesn't understand. He will in time. Your father will show himself to be the same man he has always been and Sam will come to his senses." He added with a faint chuckle. "Don't get me wrong. John Winchester isn't an evil man. Or even a bad man. But he is single minded, and since losing my sister, that mind has been fixated on the hunt." He lay one hand over Dean's. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"Yeah, well, it's over. Docs say I've been completely detoxed, the transfusions helped a whole lot." Dean said. "So where does that leave us? We've got the sepulchers. Give me a day, I'll be ready to run."

"We'll give you till you are a hundred percent better." Justin said firmly. "Won't have you risking yourself for this. So long as the final sepulcher is safe, they can't do anything anyway." He told him. "You just rest and heal for now. There will be time enough to plan getting the other boxes out of the council's hands."

Dean sighed. "Any idea how we're supposed to do that? Cause let's face it, you, Harry, Sam, me, maybe Dad, and the Red Court, they'll still outmatch us." He said. "I can't remember all that happened yet, but I do know Bianca's broken ranks with the treaties."

"Apparently the council arranged for a vampiric civil war. Bianca nipped it in the bud and rescued you at the same time." He said. "We will manage when the time comes. Don't worry about that for now. Just get better. "

"Don't worry about it? Isn't this what I was trained for?" Dean pointed out with a raised eyebrow, but no malice. "Fine. I'm getting better. Could use some decent food though. Even Max won't eat the soup."

"Once the doctor says you can have solid food, I will have something brought in for you." He sighed a little. "Dean... just because I have trained you for this doesn't mean I want to lose you to the battle. You are not a tool to be used until you break. Just ... take the time you need to heal."

"Fine." Dean said. "So what happens after this is all over? I mean, it's kinda the big climax. What's the dramatic epilogue? It's not going to be all touchy feely is it? Can I skip out and go to a bar instead if it is?"

"I don't think anyone will object if you chose to escape the aftermath. Truth be told I suspect it will be chaos until the pieces are all put back together and there is another council filled. "

"Oh good, that definitely leaves me out." Dean said with a chuckle as he played with the jello the aide had brought in. "Don't think I'll be leaving Sammy in that chaos though, even if we're not speaking then."

"You will be speaking." Justin said. "Sam could no more abandon you than you could him. Siblings fight, Dean. It's the natural course of things. We fight, and we scream and yell and say things we don't mean, and sometimes we make foolish decisions in the heat of anger, but love is always there. And that love will bind you two together. He'll come around. You'll see."

"All I'm seeing is these four walls." Dean said. Hey, if he was supposed to play Justin, he was going to try to swing it to his direct benefit! "I can do this," rest up and recover, "at home."

"I will see what I can do. Arrange for a nurse for you until the doctor is convinced you are well enough to be out of bed." Justin said with a smile.

"She better be cuter and younger than Louise." Dean said with a grin. "Though I can get out of bed right now, and I'd prove it if I had real clothes. But I'm stuck in a hospital gown right now, and Sammy won't bring me real clothes on orders from Dad...and this gown is a little drafty in the back..."

"I will bring over some pajamas for you . Surely there is no health benefit to be had from those things." Justin said and pulled out his cell phone, calling his latest assistant and having her arrange for the private nurse and to have comfortable pajamas in Dean's size brought over.

"Only benefit I can see is easy access." Dean said with a wink. "This place sucks though. Wonder how the press is going to write this one up? Winchester's coke fueled car accident?"

"I think the press will leave this one alone." Justin said. "I will see to it." He said with a chuckle at Dean's antics. "I begin to see why they assigned a matron to you rather than any young and impressionable miss."

"Yeah, well, makes it boring around here for me." Dean said as the assistant came in with his pajamas. "Score." He said with a laugh. "We gotta start planning this thing though. Right now, the way I'm seeing it? It has me marching in and trying to get past the wardens by kicking them in the shins."

"It won't be just you. I have several allies that will be joining us. No worries about that. We will start having meetings when you are home and settled in. Get us all together before we start planning officially."

"Well, the council probably figures we have the last box." Dean pointed out. "What with their vampiric civil war failing, and me and Sam being alive and all. Means we don't have much time to waste."

"Getting you better is not wasting time. They might know, but if your father and Sam are as paranoid about the outside world as they are about me where that box is concerned it will be quite safe indeed and they won't be able to get to it. You just need to focus on getting better." He said and looked up as the orderlies came in.

"We're ready to help Mr. Winchester out to the car now."

"Ah... I do so love my new assistant. She is quick and efficient." Justin said as he rose to his feet.

"Come on, give the old one some credit. The only time she ever called in, is when her nephew called her in dead and all." Dean joked. His last assistant had been great. Old, but great. Gotten him Max after all. "Come on, Maxie, time to eat some real food."

They brought in the wheel chair, and once Dean was settled in it, Maxie jumped up into his lap to enjoy the ride out to the limo.

Justin followed along behind them and waited for Dean to enter the car first before following after him.

Dean was beyond sore. Just wearing clothes and sitting in the wheelchair, then the car, was enough to make his jaw tighten. Everything rubbed the way wrong way against his wounds, not that anyone would give him anything stronger than Tylenol for it, considering he was a detoxing addict, technically. Which sucked beyond measure.

He was reminded of the immortal words of Bart Simpson then (a show Justin detested watching, so that's mainly why he did). "I never thought it was possible for something to suck and blow at the same time."

Justin shook his head and laughed softly, much as he had when Dean had been a boy. "Don't worry, We'll get you settled into your room at home and you won't have all this extra stimulus going on. "

"Dude, my bedroom can be a cornicopia of extra stimulus." Dean said with a smirk. "In fact, I happen to like that kind of extra stimulus. Might be just the thing to improve my mood. The whole release of endorphins and all has to be good, right?"

Justin gave him a warning glance. "Not necessarily. If you start to lose ground in your recovery don't think for a moment that I won't send you back to the hospital."

"Good luck." Dean said. He was a grown man, in the twilight of his twenties. Some days he felt that more than others, like today for instance. "Well, the council knows we're up to something. So Morgan will probably be hanging around a bit more. Means I get to at least exercise my mouth as I piss him off with whatever I happen to say."

"Dean... you do realize he had to do what he did." Justin said gently, knowing why Dean hated the warden so much. It would be hard on him, there was no doubt about it. Horrific especially as he had still been under the spell when it had happened. But there really had been little else that the man could do under the circumstances.

Sad really, as Morgan was one of the few that Justin thought might be salvageable.

Dean gave Justin a look. "I can't believe you of all people just said that." He said. "Mr I used black magic to kill people. Had to do what he did? Doubtful. Just more incredibly stupid rules."

"She took the free will of someone I love. I'm hardly going to feel sympathy for her, anymore than I truly expect Harry to forgive me. If it had been Samuel she had enchanted your only complaint would be that he got to her before you did."

"You know, why does everyone always say that?" Dean asked, shaking his head. "It wasn't Sam. It was me. If it was Sam, it would have turned out completely different. Probably with Melissa and Jessica in a tub of jello or something."

"Because your family matters to you far more than yourself. We want you to look at it from a different perspective and understand. What if it had been your father? Or Harry? Someone without love in their lives at the time. You love her still, makes it hard to view the reality of it all... but Dean...what she did you was worse than murder. It was worse than what I did. It was a warping of something good and beautiful within you. She took something precious from you, and even with the spell blocked, you are hurt by it very deeply. No one who loves you could find that forgivable. Not now, not ever."

"Well, you all should start. It's bad for your blood pressure, not to mention we have more important things to worry about than about something that happened a few years ago. It's over. It's done. She's dead, Morgan made sure of that, didn't he? Really, I'm fine."

"No, you aren't but alright, we don't have to discuss it at the moment." Justin said. "At the moment what we have to worry about is your complete recovery."

"Complete recovery?" Dean asked with a chuckle. He wasn't waiting for that. He'd wait until he was in fighting form. He just wanted this all over with.

"Yes, a complete recovery. You have to be on top of your game for this one, Dean. Being immune to magic will only gain you so much. I am not losing either you or Sam to this battle."

"My father and Harry are not collateral damage either." Dean said shortly. Because sometimes Justin seemed to discount and dismiss them, even Harry.

"No, they aren't. " He agreed. "But Harry and your father have no trouble in the self preservation department." Justin pointed out.

"Hey, I'm alive, aren't I?" Dean said with a shrug. Which he regretted afterwards, but tried to hide the wince. "I'm on point, I get that. I know that. But don't think I won't drop everything if anyone in my family is in over their heads. Got it?"

"Which is precisely why you need to be completely recovered." Justin told him. "You would never forgive yourself if you didn't succeed in protecting one of them because you weren't completely well."

Dean grimaced. "Fine. I'll see how quick we can get this recovery time over with." Because 'recuperating' sounded too much like 'sitting still' to him.

"Fair enough." Justin said as they pulled into the long driveway of the estate. "For now just relax and enjoy the peace and quiet. It won't last."

"Calm before the storm." Dean said. He knew that far too well. Probably more than Justin did. To Justin, it was all theoretical. . "Guess I should call Sam and let him know at least I'm out of the hospital."

"Indeed. Perhaps you can convince him to come over for dinner. I can have the cook prepare for three as easily as two... or you two can dine alone if he is still not speaking to me. I don't want to make things difficult for you."

"What's he not speaking to you for now?" Dean asked, as if he didn't know. Still playing that the last week was vague at best in his memories. He wanted to know Justin's take on it all.

"Sam is under the impression that I set you up." He said with a sad sigh. He hated that it had come to the point that the boys would think he would intentionally harm them.

"Did you?" Dean asked. "Or was it convoluted plan that went wrong? Or none of the above?" He asked as he opened the door for Max to go running about and eased himself carefully out of the car.

"I would never do anything to intentionally harm any of you." Justin insisted. "It pains me that you could think that I would. Yes I have done things in the past that were less than honest but I believed I was doing them for your best interest, not to harm you."

Dean looked at him from over the car. "Uncle Justin, I just asked you a direct question with all three possibilities to the scenario. Instead of a direct answer, I got double talk and a bit of a guilt trip. Not saying I agree with Sam's stance, but I can see how he arrived at it. Honestly."

Justin sighed. "Dean... you didn't come by your stubbornness purely from your father. I resent the question being asked. I am not going to grace it with a direct answer. The one I gave you should be enough." He said.

"The one you gave wasn't an answer at all." Dean said. "I just threw out every possibility, knowing that Sam's own mind went through every possibility. Your reluctance to choose one, well, it speaks volumes. Sam doesn't like secrets, he doesn't like shadows. And you, for whatever reason, are hiding behind them. Me? I'm going for option number three. Sam went for one of the first two, and now I know why. When he's not answered directly, he goes worst case scenario. So if Sam isn't speaking to you, it's your own fault."

"Then Sam doesn't know me as well as you do." He said as the nurse folded out the wheel chair to take Dean to his room. "I will speak with cook, and see that you are left alone business wise for a few days. "

Dean sat reluctantly in the chair and called Max, who was done doing her business. He looked at his uncle with a sigh. "This needs to be settled, with straight answers all around, before we go any further. You know that."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. You need to get better, and let Sam and I worry about Sam and I." He said.

"Fine. For a little while. Hey, steak. I want a nice thick steak with all the trimmings." He said with a grin as the nurse started pushing him into the house.

Justin looked at the nurse who discreetey shook her head. No steak for Dean just yet. "I will see what fits in with your diet." He said instead and went into his study to make a few phone calls.

Dean got settled into his bed, on top the covers because he wasn't a total invalid. Maxie, however, burrowed under them. He called his brother, but kept his tone distant and overly polite, in case someone was listening. "Sam, it's Dean. I'm back home, Uncle Justin got me out." He knew that alone would piss off his brother, but Dean was not above using this ruse for his own benefit.

"What the hell? Are you fucking insane? You shouldn't be out of the hospital yet." Sam said "Damn it Dean... " His concern was evident in his tones.

"Sam, I've got an around the clock nurse. Who's not cute by the way. Or even anywhere near my already broad age bracket." He said, rolling his eyes as he thumped on the blankets to play with the dog burrowing underneath them. "I hate hospitals, you know that. I'm fine. Look, you want to come over for something to eat? You can even choose what to eat and bring it over, how about that? Truce?"

"Yeah, truce. I will be over in an hour or so. Gonna go see the place Dad is staying at. He doesn't think it's safe to be in the same house with Justin at the moment. " And it wasn't that he was worried about being hurt either. "He weirded Harry out by asking questions about Murph."

"Dude, seriously?" Dean said, laughing. "Wow, guess she made an impression on him. Should we warn her?" He joked. "Tell him I said hi, and pick up some subs on your way over."

"Contraband, I take it." Sam said with a laugh. "See ya in about an hour." He said and hung up, then turned to his father. "Dean is at home." He said in a clipped not at all pleased tone.

John shook his head. "Dammit." He said. "I can't believe Justin got him out. Out of all the irresponsible things he would do, I didn't think of Dean convincing Justin to get him out of there." As much as he hated Justin Morningway, he had to admit that this was one hundred percent Dean's idea.

"And Uncle Justin is just desperate enough for brownie points right now that he is willing to do it. " Sam said as he took a seat. "I'm going over in an hour. He wants subs." He laughed. "Guess he isn't giving him everything he wants."

"Yeah, well, throw it in a blender before you give it to him." John said with a chuckle. "You're not allowed to try and win brownie points with your brother."

"It's not my job to win brownie points. It's my job to annoy him as much as possible. I'm the little brother, after all. I figure I will take one over there and give him a bowl of soup or something. "

John laughed. "And I'll be sure to have the icepack ready for you later." John said. Dean would be ready to deck him if that happened. And Sam wouldn't hit back, not now, not with as hurt as Dean still was.

"Good to know my family cares so much about me." Sam said with a chuckle as he grabbed his jacket and headed for the door. "I'll be back in a couple of hours. "

"Tell your brother to behave. And that if he's well enough to ask for a sub, he's well enough to go for a couple miles run with me in the morning." John said with a wave.

"Yes sir." Sam said and was out the door. He picked up two subs. He figured if he could keep it down he deserved it and if he couldn't well... it would be uncomfortable and embarassing but it wasn't like there was any danger of ripping his stomach open. If he couldn't handle it, maybe he wouldn't ask again till he was ready.

Dean was going over papers from the office when Sam came, brandishing the subs. "There you are!" Dean said. He'd tried to leave the room, only to be stopped by the nurse who threatened to tell on him. Dean was amazed that Sam had gotten the food past her!

"Now Dad says, if you are well enough to eat this, you are well enough to go for a run with him in the morning. Me... I think you are going to puke your guts up before you get half way through it. Harry is undecided."

Dean laughed. "Who's got the most money on it?" He asked with an impish grin as he took the sub. "Cause I'll double it saying I finish it and I still don't go running with Dad in the morning."

"Damn... Harry wins." Sam said with a laugh. Instead of placing a bet on how much Dean could or would eat, he bet that the man would join in on the betting pool.

That got Dean laughing. "Well, guess you have to pay up then, little brother." He said with a grin as he unwrapped his sub and shoved his papers aside. Max came out from under the blankets, finally Dean had food she'd like. "How's Dad?"

"Not bad, really. He is still pretty sore, still a lot of bruises and the like. But he insists that he is fine. Which means that he would probably not be able to run a mile in the morning either."

Dean grinned. "I should take him up on it then." He said. "So you left him alone for dinner. Think he'll ring Murph up? I'm sure his cross examination of Harry included what she liked to eat."

"Nah. He is being shy about it. Harry might arrange it though. He was horrified at first, but I think the idea sort of grew on him. Mostly cause I think he wants to see Murph land on Sad with both feet or something. He doesn't realise that you take after Dad... A lot."

"Dude, what are you talking about?" Dean asked with a chuckle. "I'd never entertain the idea of seriously dating Murphy. Or even unseriously really having a fling."

Sam laughed. "That isn't what I am talking about. I have seen a lot more of him the last little while. He flashes that grin of his and women are fallling all over themselves. It sure explains all those waitresses and nurses that were so helpful and doting when we were little. If he put a little effort into it... He could get past even Murphy's walls. Of course she might kill him a week later when he is off best behavior."

"And I think Murphy would be one of the few that might manage it too." Dean said with a chuckle. "It's called charm. You probably inherited too, just have to let it loose. Then we can rule the world." Dean said, doing his best 'cartoon villain' laugh.

"Nah... I figure the way I take after Dad is that whole unable to move on thing. Seems to be a Winchester trait all around." It was true. None of them seemed to be able to move on really. Not even from love that was born of magic.

Dean made a face. "I've moved on just fine." He said. He'd reverted back to the behavior from before he met Melissa. What more did they want?

"What ever you say, man." Sam wasn't going to argue the point with him. It was progress, Sam would admit, but Dean wasn't over it by a long shot. "Dad... I think maybe ... Just maybe he is ready to come up for air."

"And that would be something." Dean said. "Can you imagine having Murphy as a step mother?" Dean asked with a laugh.

Sam laughed. "To be honest... No. I always sort of thought she and Harry would get together but they have other thoughts." He said. "I think it's a good thing he is showing interest in someone he would have to get to know, though. I am sure he hasn't been celibate all this time."

"Dude!" Dean said. "Are you that hell bent on winning the pool that you'll ruin my appetite in really cheap and disgusting ways?" He asked. "If you really want to wonder about Dad's sex life, really, not while I'm eating."

"It's just sex, Dean. Not like I'm signing up to watch or ask for details. Just assuming that he isn't a eunuch is all." Sam said with a laugh. "Besides you should see what it does to Harry to talk in possiblities... And it makes Dad blush. Which is funny as hell."

"Dad blushes?" Dean asked with a laugh. "Think I'd pay to see that. I'll tease him about Murph when it comes time to 'make up ' with him I guess. Murphy, sex and all that. We're all grown ups, right?"

"Well, Dad and I are, the jury is still out on you and Harry." He said with a grin. "So how is it going with ... Him?"

"It's going fine." Dean said. "He seems to feel really bad that I'm all banged up, constantly saying we're going to wait until I'm completely recovered, all that stuff. As far as admitting anything, or seeing what his agenda was, he's not slipping on that aspect."

"Yeah... I know. He doesn't deny it later. You just know some where down the road when evidence pops up he is going to say he never denied it."

"I know." Dean said. "But we need him right now. Without him, we can't get into the council. Sure, you're technically a member, but if they're planning on releasing demons, they're gonna want a for fact known black magic wizard to help them. He's our in."

"Yeah I know." Sam said with a sigh. "You sure you're okay staying here with out me? Should I come home? Don't have to make up with him to come home."

"Nah, I'm fine." Dean said. "I mean, as I get him to plan our big showdown, maybe I can get him to slip. You've already got him on the defensive."

"Yeah I know. " Sam said. "You were so bad off when we first got you back... I wasn't able to contain it. Sorry."

"It looked a lot worse than it really was." Dean said. And he honestly believed it too. It helped that the first few days were a blur, really.

"Yeah well... I have to go on what I see and what the doctors tell me." Sam said, instead of telling his brother he was full of shit. That he had practically been at death's door.

"Yeah, well..." Dean said and shrugged. "Okay, so we're still at square one." He said, changing the subject.

"Yeah not surprised. With his plan to get rid of Dad failing, he isn't about to risk his plans getting out. Which means it's going to be something we will hate and have no time to create a back up plan for."

"That's the scary part. He's a smart guy, with awesome powers of planning really bad things." Dean said. "He probably does want Dad dead still, he's an obstacle and all. Us? He'll keep alive until the goal is accomplished, after that, well I really don't know."

"Yeah... I know... He was willing to sacrifice Harry to come back from the dead. If Harry hadn't moved on, I have no doubt that he would have come after me." Sam said with a sigh. "I hate it... I hate mistrusting him... But everything he does tells me he isn't to be trusted. "

"I know. But at the same time we have to." Dean said. "Up to a point at least."

"No we need to go along with him. Not the same thing." Sam said with a tight frown. "So why did you come home when the doctor was advising against it?"

"Because I could." Dean said, as if that made all the sense in the world. "I hate hospitals, you know that. Can't blame a guy for taking some advantage when he could, right?"

Sam sighed. "I can if it endangers your health. You aren't in any condition to stop him if anything happens. Maybe I should move back in."

"I'm eating the sub fine. Obviously I'm not as bad as you guys all think." Dean said making a face. Sure, he felt a little nauseous, but he was eating the whole damn thing. And sneaking bites to Max. "And if I were in the hospital, we'd have no idea what he was up to here, now would we?"

"Dude, you aren't finished yet, and we still don't know what he is up to. I don't think we will until the last minute. Hell it's possible that he doesn't even know what he is up to."

"Now that's a scary thought." Dean said. "Okay, well, we know he wants the council disbanded. We know if there aren't any survivors it works out even better for him. We know the sepulchers are with the council, well, four of them. We've got the last one. And we know that you need all five to either activate or destroy them. We should find out how to destroy them so we're not crossed in that area at least."

"I agree. I will get Harry working on that one. I think I am going to see about renewing relations with some of the council members. Start showing interest in my post. See what I can find out."

"Sounds good. In the meantime, I'll hit the books and train." Dean said. "Maybe I will run that mile tomorrow morning."

"I don't think so." Sam said giving Dean a look. "You are not going to go anywhere just yet. Dad was teasing." He worried about his health as much as the fact that if anyone in Chicago could find a vampire... it was Dean Winchester.

"Then Dad can stay home." Dean said. "Dude, come on, I've been pretty much immobile for, what? A week? That's more than enough." Sure, two of them were during his captivity and all.

"You aren't immobile. You can get up and move around here now. You aren't ready for that much... stimuli... it's not just the physical you need to recover from." His brother had been tortured for two days after all. That wasn't something you got over easily or quickly. It just didn't happen. Then add in the psychological addiction to the vampire bite...No it was just a bad idea.

Dean gave his brother a sharp look. "I'm fine." He said. "Really, you guys worry too much. I'm fine." Deal with things? Dean didn't deal with things, he worked them out in sweat and blood. Didn't much matter whose blood either.

And that was what worried Sam. It was just the wrong time to give into that. "No we don't, and no you aren't." He said firmly. "You're the only brother I have, so suck it up and deal."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Dean said. "Cause if you had two brothers like me, you probably wouldn't have survived adolescence as a free man. You'd be locked up in a nuthouse somewhere gibbering on about something, right?"

"More like I wouldn't have gone out in public alone until I went off to college. You nearly smothered me as it was, two of you would have done me in." He teased back. "So now it's just time for you to sit there and take your lumps while I hover over you and make sure you're all right."

Dean made a face. But he knew his brother couldn't hover constantly. Not if he was going to make up with the council, consult with Harry, tease their dad about Murph, and watch Justin. He could do a few hours easily at least. And Dean could tolerate a few hours easily at least.

"I'll sic my dog on you." He dead panned. "She's nine pounds of canine terror and fury you know."

"Yeah... But she still sleeps with her daddy." Sam pointed out. "And the fact that I called you her daddy means I have started catching that special brand of pet owner insanity that you and Dad have. It's no wonder neither of you are in serious relationships. Your dogs would be jealous."

"I thought I was having a love affair with my car." Dean said. "At least according to you." He reminded Sam. "He's underestimating you, Maxie." He cooed to his dog as he fed her bites of her sub. She stopped eating long enough to toss a doggie glare at Sam.

Sam laughed then looked at Maxie. "Unless you want him back in the hospital... Keep an eye on him, girl. He's way too good at getting himself into trouble." He told the dog and then grinned at Dean. After all if the dog was as smart as Dean thought she was...he was in trouble.

"I am an angel. And my dog knows that, even if the rest of you won't admit it." Dean said, throwing a sub crust at Sam. He'd finished the sub without running to the bathroom (with a bit of help from his wonder dog).

"Fallen, maybe." Sam said shaking his head. "So, I'll be by tomorrow. See how you are doing. I mean it... Take it easy. It's okay to let yourself really heal. Dad is as unreasonable as you are about it."

"Sounds like Sammy has his hands full." He said to Max with a laugh. "See you tomorrow dude. I promise, no running miles tomorrow."

"Okay, good. Be careful." Sam said as he lay brick dust at the door and covered it with a small rug. "See you for lunch."

"Yeah. And bring food!" He said, chuckling at Sam putting down the brick dust. Max was trained to step over such lines, so there was no worry from Max disturbing them.

"Yeah I know, the worse for you, the better right?" Sam asked with a chuckle. "Later." He said and closed the door. He nodded at Justin as he passed him in the hall, and headed on out to his car, hating leaving his brother alone with the man but right now, Dean had the best chance of getting any information out of him. And they would know shortly what the man's intent was. After all ... He had to cross the dust to get at Dean.

Dean waited five minutes, then left his room. He promised not to run miles. He didn't promise not to train in other ways. No matter what they said, he needed to be ready for this. One way or another. He nodded at Justin as he passed in the hall, unlike Sam he didn't believe Justin meant him harm. And he had the anti magic spell still on him.

"Where are you off to?" Justin asked. "You really do need to rest still, Dean."

"Not you too." Dean said, making a face. "Dude, I can't lay around. I'm not the lay around type. Maybe you should have put me on Ritalin when you had the chance."

Justin humphed at that. "Hardly. However this is about recovery. It's not supposed to be pleasant. Now turn around and head back to your room."

"Or you'll what? Ground me?" Dean asked with a smirk.

"I can arrange to send you back to the hospital." He pointed out.

"No you can't. I was discharged, and I'm an adult. Mighta worked when I was seventeen. But I'm twenty eight now." Dean said. "The doctors might think I'm incredibly stupid, but not one will find me incompetent. But hey, look on the bright side, you and Sam agree on something now!"

"Why is it so hard for you to take care of yourself?" Justin asked. "I have never understood that about you."

Dean shrugged. "Just is." He said, not feeling like getting into an argument over whether he took care of himself or not. "Because I have things to do. How'd that guy put it? Promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep."

"A little hard to keep promises if you hurt yourself and wind up back in the hospital, my boy. Don't leave the property alone for a while. The fiends can smell that addiction a mile away." He said, deciding for the blunt approach. "And it has only been a few days."

"I didn't say I was leaving the house." He'd compromise on that one for now. The house was big enough to hold off cabin fever for a day. Maybe two.

"All right." He said with a nod. "Just be sure when you do to go with either Harry or Samuel." Justin was concerned, he honestly was, but he also couldn't afford for Dean to get in too deep just yet. He needed him in top shape. Couldn't achieve that if he was too busy being controlled by vampires.

"Yeah, yeah I know. Though I did fire the nurse. She tried to take my sub away." Dean said with a grin. "Didn't go over too well with Maxie, so I saved me a lawsuit that would have happened if Maxie had been driven to bite her."

"I will call the agency for another one." He said and started to walk away. He knew if he stood there any longer he would be tempted to drag his nephew to his bed by his ear or something. How he missed the days when the boy was young enough to make him do as he needed him to do.

"Don't bother. I'll fire that one too. I'm more than capable of popping my own pills, you don't have to worry about overdose. Pain pills never reach that kind of high." He said honestly. "With everything going on, you really want a stranger poking around and listening, and coming in at awkward times?"

"I don't have trouble with keeping secrets. Especially if it means that I can keep you healthy. Don't over do it." Justin said. "I came far too close to losing you. "

"Who? Me?" Dean asked with a smirk. "Overdo? You must be thinking of someone else. Let me know when dinner's ready. I should be hungry again by then."

TMATMATMATMATMATMATMATMATMATMATMATMATMA

Sam got back to Harry's and sank down into a chair with a scowl on his face. He really didn't like leaving Dean in there alone. He absentmindedly stroked Mouse, and sighed.

"Keep that up and you get to take Mouse home." Harry said with a chuckle. "How's Dean doing?" He wasn't all that comfortable with the idea either. But knew better than to try to argue Dean out of it right now.

"He kept the sandwich down... While I was there. Was talking about getting back into training again. " He grumbled. "Refuses to acknowledge that he is still recovering. You know... Typical Dean."

"Well, we can wait until he passes out, then tie him down." Harry said. "But he'd probably chew his arm off to get back up. So, run into Justin?"

"Passed him in the hall, didn't say anything to him. Had nothing to say. RIght now that's probably the kindest thing I could do... Other than keeping Dad off of him. Cause Dad is ready to put him back in a pine box."

"Have to say, your father and I agree on that point." Harry said with a frown. Nothing but trouble since Justin had pulled his resurrection act. Not the least of it being Harry almost killed to complete it, and Dean nearly sacrificing himself for a couple of boxes. No matter what was inside them, and there were hefty stuff inside them, his cousins were more important in the long run, even if Justin didn't quite see that.

"Yeah... I don't know how I feel about it yet. He isn't denying anything and that isn't good." Sam said with a sigh. "This isn't good...we have to come up with some way to best the council and get those boxes without him. Because working with him is going to be nothing but trouble."

"Justin is our way in." Harry said. "Unless you think we can turn someone also on the council, deeper than you. A warden?" Harry laughed. "Let's go ask Morgan if he wants to help us take down the council."

"Morgan wouldn't listen long enough to figure out they were evil and if he did, he would only hear that Justin told us. The man is brainwashed I swear."

"He has to be. To protect them like that, uphold their laws." Harry said with a shrug. "Which leaves us with square one. Okay, so we've got the final case. Justin doesn't. That's a start."

"And he doesn't ever get to have it either." Sam said. "Dad is researching how to destroy them. Once we get them away from the council the plan is to get them away from Justin as well and take care of them once and for all."

"And I agree with that plan. It's just getting from the starting line to the finish line is all." Harry said with a sigh. "Okay, we're keeping the last one from him. That's a start."

"It's all we can do until he coughs up his plan. Dean is hoping to get him to spill it to him soon. But I think he is going to wait till the last minute to tell us anything."

"Typical." Harry said with a groan of frustration. "Okay, so we plan without him. How are you doing on trying to get more included in the council?"

"Meeting with one of the members tomorrow. Playing the whole, teach me what to do card. " He said with a sigh. "Hopefully they are so used to me being completely ingenuous so they won't question too deeply."

"Hope so." Harry said. "Now how do we keep Dean from ending up in the hospital? Justin won't be able to stop him, even if he wanted to."

"I have an idea, but you are going to think I am nuts." Sam said and looked up at Harry. "We get him another pug... a puppy or really young pug to look after. Wonder if there is a pug rescue here in Chicago that has someone that needs adopting. Maybe call the local vets." He said reaching for the phone book.

"You're nuts." Harry said with a laugh. "It worked when he was thirteen, he's older now. Plus, Max is highly territorial in case you didn't notice."

"Yeah... but pugs like other pugs. Even strangers they see on the street. Maxie will try and drag Dean across the street if she sees another pug. " Sam pointed out. "That's why another pug is perfect. Dean dotes on Maxie... if there is another pug that needs attention he will do the same thing." For that reason he started calling the vets' offices first. Abandoned or injured dogs often wound up there even before going to the shelter. Especially puppies.

Harry laughed and shook his head as Sam hit pay dirt with a couple of vets. Two or three abandoned pugs of various ages, but none above five. A litter of newborn puppies, born by emergency C-section from an abandoned and abused mother, the vet held out hope that two of them were going to make it, and leads on shelters who specialized in pugs.

Sam thought about it a moment before deciding to go to the vet to look at the new born pups. They would need the most attention. And would be the easiest to write off as not a scheme for Dean's attention. Of course that would mean that Sam had to get a dog too. But he could adapt to that, he supposed.

"See ya in a bit. I'll tell you how it goes." He said as he headed out the door and for the vets office.

The secretary showed Sam in and the vet was examining one of the remaining puppies he'd told Sam about. "These puppies are going to need a lot of care." He said to Sam. Pugs were popular right now, but they couldn't be taken in as a gag gift, or for an accessory or something.

"I know. I grew up with a pug... my brother's dog. She's getting older, grey in the muzzle, what there is of a muzzle anyway." He added with a grin. "This is a good time for a transition... and we have the free time to take care of them." He said stepping in closer to look at the newborn puppies. "Did the mother not make it?" He asked.

"No, I barely had time to get the dogs out before she died." The vet said. "They'll need to be bottle fed, they're small, even for pugs, it's a big responsibility." He looked at Sam, and though the man had intelligence in his eyes, and warmth when he looked at the puppies, he still looked like a kid.

Sam smiled a little. "I'm a little older than I look." He said gently as he spotted the familiar look in the doctor's eyes as he looked him over. "Can I pick up the first round of supplies here or should I go get that before coming back for the puppies?" He asked, knowing they couldn't be alone long enough for him to do that in a store. Too cold for them. They wouldn't be regulating their own temperature yet.

"I have enough here." He said. "I'll have the secretary write you out a bill." Normal procedure, to recoup some of the costs already incurred after all.

"Right... no worries." Sam said as he gathered the pups' box and settled the towel they were using as a blanket over them. He headed out to the front to the desk to await the supplies and the bill.

The secretary wrote out the bill and ran Sam's credit card through, taking the signed receipt. "Congratulations." She said with the normal secretary smile.

"Thanks." He said as he made his way out with the supplies and the box. He didn't even know what gender they were. He figured there would be enough time to look under their skirts later.

He parked in front of the estate and headed for the work out room first. "Knew I would find you here. I need your help." He said as he set aside the puppy formula and bottles the vet had given him.

"Okay." Dean said as he worked the bag. "Cut your hair. You'll stop tripping over your big feet then." He said with a grin as Max went over to investigate the box, uncovering the puppies and barking at Dean.

"I was looking for a dog for myself. Checking out vets for rescues and all that... and he had these puppies. New born pugs. Their mom was abused and abandoned... she died ... these little guys are the only ones he could save from the litter." He sat down on the floor letting Max investigate the pups. He knew she wouldn't hurt them.

Max climbed into the box as Dean untaped his hands and came over. "Aww, jumping on the pet brigade, Sammy?" Dean teased as he looked in the box, seeing as much of the puppies as he could around Max. "Two? Dude, two sickly newborn puppies? I couldn't even get you to take Maxie out for a walk."

"I couldn't say no... and there's two of them. How do you seperate them like that?" He knew it was lame. "I mean who says I'll take one desperate little creature but the other one is just going to have to make it on his own?" He shook his head. "That's why I need your help. And apparently Max's help as well. She seems to know what to do with them even if she can't feed them herself. "

Dean chuckled as he sat down by the box stiffly and picked up one of the puppies. "Aww, Sammy's got a girlfriend." He said and peeked under the tail. "Make that a boyfriend. All you have to do is keep them warm, and fed."

"Yeah, well right now I am trying to shmooz the council. Not going to look like a big bad grown up wizard with a box of puppies under my arm all the time. Hence the needing help. What's the other one?" He asked as he took the little boy puppy out of Dean's hand. "Their little noses are so cute." He held it back down a little for Maxie to sniffle at.

"Careful!" Dean said as Sam took the puppy and Dean dove back into the box for the other one. "Boy also." He said. "Pugs are the best of both worlds. Big dog in tiny dog body."

"Sorry." Sam said as he gently eased the puppy down into the box with Maxie. "Yeah they are. I was noticing that Maxie seems to pack in about three dogs worth of energy. Even now." He laughed a little as the pup went to nuzzling for a nipple. "I have puppy bottles and formula from the vet for them." He said reaching for the bag of supplies.

Dean dug through the supplies and set up one and gently took one of the puppies out of the box and wrapped him in a clean towel to keep him warm. "Not exactly like a baby, Sam." Dean said with a laugh. "Like this."

Sam did as his brother did and settled in to feed the pup. Maxie went back and forth between the two, eyeing them both to see what they were doing with the little boys and if they were doing it right. The slightest sound of displeasure from the pups had her over there sniffing at it and looking up at its feeder as if to tell them to hurry up and fix it.

"Don't think I don't see through this, Sammy." Dean said. "After all, I got Maxie so I would stop getting expelled, right? Get me a puppy now and maybe I won't kill myself training for a bit. Smooth. But don't think I don't know."

"So long as it works, you can know what ever you want to." Sam said with a grin. "Besides... Maxie seems to like the idea. How often does that happen?"

"What? That Maxie agrees with you? Hardly ever." Dean said with a chuckle. "So what's the set up? Am I keeping both until they're weaned or I'm recovered, whichever is first? Or are you taking one now?"

"I can take one now if you want, but I don't know if it's a good idea. Especially since Maxie is all up for keeping them warm duty."

"Yeah she is." Dean said with a laugh. "Okay they'll stick with me for now then. Probably about a month, really. And no, you can't sleep with me to sleep with your dog."

"That's okay. I can visit during the day. I will trust you to keep him warm and well fed. Maxie will make sure you stay on top of it, I'm sure." Sam said with a laugh.

"Maxie's a slave driver." Dean said with a laugh as he scratched behind Max's ears. "Just you wait. You'll completely be your dog's slave. Don't laugh, it's true!"

"Yeah... I think the only one that has managed not to be a slave to their dog is Harry and that's cause it's not so much a dog as a roommate who doesn't pay rent or buy food."

"You're right." Dean said with a laugh. Whereas Dean had handraised Max from the time she was weaned and would until she died. "At least the vet will be happy. I'll be running to him with a different dog this time."

"Yeah... he still hasn't convinced you that pugs sneeze... it's part of what they do." Sam said with a laugh. "Or that Maxie is healthy even if she is more grey than Dad."

"Not every sneeze is a normal sneeze." Dean said in defense of himself. "And I know she's healthy." Because Dean was very proactive in her care, much to the consternation of the vet he was sure. "You'll see."

"Oh I am sure she is. Very very healthy. and these little guys are going to grow up very healthy as well." He said as he set the pup back down in the box to be sniffed and moved around by Maxie.

"Yup." Dean said. "Spoiled rotten too, especially if Max has a say in it. So you're a pet owner now, huh? Guess you did cross over into my own special brand of insanity."

"Guess I did." He said looking at the tiny little pugs. He hadn't figured he would find them so adorable. So irresistible. Such a tiny little life.

"Welcome to the club Sammy." Dean said as Maxie took over the baby pugs. Dean stood up and cracked a few joints, he was still stiff from the hospital. "Justin hasn't said boo, other than to tell me not to leave the grounds." He said, adding in an eye roll.

Sam laughed. "Yeah that's gonna work. Telling you what to do never has. Have to make you want to do it." He said with a grin. He had been found out. Might as well get a laugh out of it after all.

"You're a bitch, you know that." Dean said with a chuckle. "Come on, grab the box. Cause they're not living in the training room." Dammit, Sam had his number all right, training room was out for a bit.

"Wouldn't have to be if you weren't such a jerk." Sam grabbed the box. "It's okay. You can stay where you are, foster mom." He said to Maxie, and balanced the box carefully for the three dogs and looked to Dean. "Your room?"

Dean nodded. "You were the one who told Maxie not to let me out of her sight, remember?" He teased his brother. He passed Justin in the hall. "Hey, Sam got me a dog!" He said with a grin.

"Another one?" He asked with a raised eye brow.

"Well... it worked so well the first time." Sam said with a laugh. "Figured I had to give it a shot. He's babysitting mine as well." He added. "Until it's weaned. "

"Dude. It is a him." Dean said. "If you don't respect the power of pug, you're seriously going to end up with chewed sneakers and a wet bed."

"The power of pug?" Sam asked. "Ahm... Dude... once HE is old enough HE is going to become an IT. " He pointed. "And no amount of cute and cuddly will bring THEM back."

"No need to rub it in, Sammy. If I get you fixed, can I call you an it?" Dean asked.

"You get me fixed, you won't be calling anybody anything." Sam said, giving his brother the deserved look.

"Maybe it will tone down all this aggression you're unfortunately suffering from." Dean said innocently as they walked by Justin.

Justin watched them go. Even though they were grown men now, at times like these he was taken back to when they were children. There were more than a few times that they would end up inadvertantly ignoring the rest of the world around them when they were talking. He was glad whatever differences they had had were put aside now.

Sam entered Dean's room and set the box down on the bed. He was sure by the next time he showed up there would be a different bed for the pups. Dean would spoil them rotten that was for certain. "I'm not aggressive. " Sam said. "I'm the good one remember. You are the one with anger management issues."

"I don't have anger management issues." Dean said. "Maxie, do I have anger management issues? See, my dog thinks I'm an angel." He said with a grin. He'd never admit it, but he was glad for the break. Some of his wounds were probably about to ooze at this rate, and he knew that was never good.

Sam laughed. "That's because you can reach the bananas and apples and have sole custody of the liver treats."

"Only because you didn't like them." Dean said. He'd slipped some to Sam as a prank. Dean still thought that was funny. He watched as Max carefully picked the puppies up by the scruff of their necks and one by one got them on the bed (Dean's bed) and nudged and patted the blankets to make a small encircled warm area for them. "I am so screwed now." He said, shaking his head with a laugh as he watched.

"Those things are vile. I don't know how you can feed them to her with all good conscience." Sam said shaking his head. "Yep. Maxie has gone all maternal. It's really cute you know." Sam said as he sat down on the edge of the bed and watched the pug mother the infants. "I'll be lucky if she will let me have one of the pups when all this is done."

"Nah, she'll let you have one." Dean said. "She wants you addicted and trained by pugs too. It's all part of a nefarious plan in her doggie mind, I swear."

"World domination by pugs?" Sam asked. " I don't know... a world run by cute and playful? That could be a scary place."

"I think it would be great." Dean said with a laugh. "Don't worry, you can join the brainwashed masses soon enough. So when are you meeting with the council.

"Have a meeting with one of them tonight. Another tomorrow." He said. "So far so good. Probably won't find anything out right away but it might give me a bit of an edge when the time comes."

"I'll take any edge I can get." Dean said. "I'm going to call Bianca later and see if me being a part of this whole thing is a problem. According to Justin they can smell my little situation a mile away. And while it would be good to have a Red Court back up, they can also sit this one out with no problem."

"Yeah I worry about you being anywhere near them. Bianca can't watch them every second and still do her part." He didn't trust vampires. Bianca was a special case.

"Yeah I know that." Dean said. Mad at himself for getting captured like that, now he was a liability. They could have used all the force they could get their hands on.

"We'll have to see what happens. They might be so pissed at the council that you aren't even really on their radar." Sam suggested. It was possible. Even probable. Although he would be after that and they would have to figure out a way to protect him after that.

"Yeah, we'll see." Dean said as he adjusted the blankets around the pugs. "So should we ask Murph out for Dad, and set them up in a bar, or wait for him to find his balls in that area?"

Sam laughed. "I think we should be nice and invite Dad, Murph and Harry all out to dinner somewhere nice." Sam said. "Get Dad and Murph all cleaned up and in the same place who knows what will happen."

"Hey that's an idea. We can do it tonight, after you meet with the council." Dean said. "I have to get off the grounds, and with you, Dad, Murph and Harry, I should be fairly well protected from vamps, don't you think?" He said, making a face at having to be protected in the first place.

"Yeah... do you think the pups will be alright for that long?" He asked looking over at the sleeping furballs.

"They'll be fine. I'll feed them before I leave, and Maxie will take over from there. Look at her, she's loving this." Dean said with a laugh.

"She really is. Who knew she would get a chance to be mom?" He said with a chuckle. "But hey... it works and these little guys need it. So you pick the place, and contact them all. I gotta get going."

"Will do." Dean said with a laugh. "Tell Morgan I said hi. In a really chirpy annoying way too."

"Oh you're funny." Sam said as he left the room. "Don't forget to leave me a message on where the dinner is going to be and when." Sam added then closed the door behind him to allow Dean the illusion of privacy.

There was a whole protocol to follow. Everyone had to follow it, starting with a magical strip search. Once the wardens were satisfied there wasn't anything harmful on, they were allowed admittance to the grand hall, resembling more the Senate floor than anything else.

Sam entered the hall, not for the first time. He had come here to be inducted to the council shortly after Justin's demise. It felt pretentious. Overwhelming in some ways but he supposed that was the point.

Ancient Mei looked at Sam from her berth. "You requested this meeting." She said, raising a deceptively youthful eyebrow.

"Yes,,, I think it's time that I learned what all my post entails... to step up to the position... unless you want it to revert back to Justin of course. You know it's only a matter of time that he moves to take it if I am not well in place."

Her other eyebrow joined . "Really. And what do you think your post entails?"

"I don't know exactly. That's why I am here. " He said as he looked her in the eyes. "Supposedly there is more to it than a title and a body guard when I want it." He had turned down a warden. Didn't see the need.

"Speaking of body guards...your uncle is back, and vampires attacked your brother. Still you refuse?' Another member asked. "Knowing that your uncle has a history of murder?"

"I don't like being followed." Sam said bluntly. "And I can take care of myself. Not staying at the mansion with Justin either."

"No, you're staying with your cousin." One intoned. "Who until recently was under the Doom." Funny thing, rules. Sure, Harry had killed with black magic. But when the man he killed was alive again, couldn't hold him for murder anymore. That didn't mean he wasn't being watched for any more infractions. Just the slightest one would damn him, due to his prior offense.

"Harry isn't a danger to me." Sam said. "He only attacked Justin in rage and self defense. He doesn't have any reason to be that angry with me." He justified it casually.

"Make sure it stays that way." He was warned. "Otherwise Justin will be able to take your seat. Or we'll wait to see if your brother manages to father a magical child." It was possible, it was in his genes, in his line. It had just chosen not to express itself in Dean.

"Good luck with that. After what Melissa, pulled I doubt he will be willingly involved long enough to have any knowledge of any child he could produce." Sam said with a sigh. "But anyway... I am here... so... what does that entail... having a seat on the council? Is it just being called here when there is something to deal with or is there more to it?"

"A pledge of loyalty." Ancient Mei said. "To uphold everything the council stands for and what the council dictates."

"And exactly what does the council stand for?" Sam asked locking gazes with Ancient Mei. A pledge of loyalty could be a hazard right then. Depending on how binding it actually was magically.

"The council stands for what it always has." Ancient Mei responded smoothly. "Upholding traditions that date back centuries, and keeping safe the practice of magick in an ever intrusive world."

"And should an edict ever contradict that mission statement?" He asked, this would be the clincher as far as he was concerned. If she said their edicts were law no matter, he wouldn't be able to even pretend to take an oath.

Ancient Mei gestured around the large room. "If there is a problem with our edicts, of course we're open to discussion. Majority, however, rules."

Sam nodded figuring that was safe enough. If there were open debate, it wasn't an enforced agreement. "Alright." He said after a moment's thought.

Ancient Mei looked at Merlin, who nodded. "All right." She agreed and led him through the oath of commitment

Sam went through the oath, and could feel the power of it rippling over his skin. It was a solemn and binding oath, but nothing that would force Sam to traffic with demons. Nothing that would make him betray himself or his family or their ideals. He wondered how it had gotten to the point that the council had begun to do so... he wondered how the two before him could do so and still say the words of the oath with such sincerity.

"We will send you a message when we need to convene." Ancient Mei said. "You are also free to send us messages when you feel we need to convene. But you being on the council does not give Harry Dresden any leeway or mercy when it comes to black magic."

"No one should get leeway or mercy when it comes to black magic or dealing with demons intentionally." Sam pointed out. "I have very strong feelings about... demons." He said looking at the two of them intently.

They looked back, nonplussed by his gaze. "I imagine you would. Perhaps you can do a better job than Morgan in keeping your brother in line with treaties we have set up."

"I wouldn't bet on that. And I'm sorry... any vampire that comes for him with his current condition... is going to have to deal with me as well. Dean and my father aren't part of our treaties anyway."

"But you consider them family." Ancient Mei said. It wasn't unheard of for wizards to cut family ties once they came into their power. "Therefore their actions reflect on you, and on us."

"Last I heard demons weren't on our friends list... and if their actions reflect on us... then any attack on them is also an attack on myself. " Sam pointed out. "Dad isn't or at least wasn't a vampire hunter, don't think that will change if they leave Dean alone... and I know Bianca isn't interested in having that happen. Shouldn't be a problem."

"Good." Ancient Mei said. "Then I don't see a problem. Though treaties chance, alliances change, politics is a messy business."

"Yes it is. But you have to understand, Dean and my dad don't go and ferret things out. They follow signs ... usually starting in the newspapers of things going on. Anything they hunt down has probably already broken the treaty and deserves what they get. Wizards shouldn't be the only ones that only rarely if ever get second chances."

"Your brother and your father are messing with powers that they have no business messing with." Ancient Mei said coldly. "They have no place in our world."

"Our world?" Sam asked. "There is only one world, with all due respect. They deal with things that are crossing lines. All our treaties only amount to the paper they are written on, if the things are killing humans left and right. Or do normal people not matter in your so called world?"

"There is not one world, for their protection as much as ours." Merlin said, in a quiet voice that demanded attention. "It wasn't all that long ago that witches were being burned at the stake. Most of the time, they weren't even witches, but just suspected of being witches. The worlds are seperate for that reason."

"So what do you call it when Demons and vampires and werewolves interfere with the other world? Not our problem? That's fine, but that means that people like my father and brother have to step in and do what we don't. Because we don't want our treaties messed up. "

Merlin sat back. "If this is your attitude, perhaps you should rethink joining the council. We're not pro hunter." He said. "Hunters as a whole just kill everything different from them. We are different from them."

"You don't know my father. Or my brother. The point is we don't protect the normal society out there. Someone has to. Sorry that screws with your paradigm but that's the way things are. Okay so we keep our powers and our societies secret from the rest of the world but that doesn't give us the right to decide that it's okay for them to be eaten for breakfast so long as we ... who aren't affected... get a proper apology. If we turn a blind eye to the humans who are hunted, then perhaps we should turn that same blind eye to the humans that fight back."

"Your brother and your father are in a losing war." Ancient Mei pointed out. "But that is not our discussion at this time. Mr Winchester, you have officially been inducted into the council, congratulations. We look forward to the...unique...perspective you can bring. Just be aware that any further hunting with your family will not look favorably for you."

"So long as self defense isn't considered hunting, that should be fine. It invades my space... it dies." Sam said simply. "And I will work things out with Bianca with regards to my brother. She and I... understand one another I think." At least on that point. It would be enough.

"Good." Merlin said with a nod. "A partnership with Red Court has the possibility of being profitable. You will make that happen."

"I will work on that... after all, I can assure them that we aren't going to be doing anything like ... oh using demons or anything else unseemly. Although I thought we already had a partnership with the Red Court. " He said with a puzzled frown. "At least that was the impression the other vampires were giving me when I showed up for my brother."

"We have a treaty with them." Ancient Mei said smoothly. "We'd like a partnership." Which meant, to the council, the Red Court being ruled by the White Council, instead of being ruled by themselves. No need to tell Sam that though. That would all be explained later.

"What would the difference between the two be? Can't convince someone to take the bigger deal if I don't know what makes it better." Sam said. He had a feeling there was a lot he wasnt being told. He wasn't going to become their point man if he was left in the dark, and he sure as hell wasn't going to give them the impression he was as naive as he probably looked to someone old enough to have ancient in their name.

"If we have to point out the difference between a treaty of truce and a partnership, then perhaps you are not the man for the job." Ancient Mei said patiently, barely refraining from rolling her eyes.

"Perhaps. And perhaps it's merely that lawschool background that tells me there are many types of partnerships usually involving contracts defining each party's rights and responsibilities and only a fool enters into one with out all the details."

"Obviously we wouldn't have her agree to something without discussing it with her first." Ancient Mei said patiently. "That's your assignment. Take it or leave it, either way you make an impression."

"When I speak with her about my brother's situation, I will tell her of your offer of a partnership. Without more information than that, that is all I'm willing to do. I will let you know what she says." He told her with a smile. "Until then." He added and turned to leave the chambers.


	14. Chapter 14

John actually shaved and stared at himself in the mirror for a moment. "This is insane." He said looking over at Mutt. "I should just call Dean and make an excuse not to go." He told his dog. "The last thing I need to be thinking about is a woman right now. "

He grumbled as he finished putting on his suit, purposefully forgetting the tie. He hated the damned things. Always felt like a hangman's noose.

Mutt tilted his head first to one side then the other. Not sure what to think of John's nervousness.

"Yeah I know. Coward's way out." He said and sighed. "Okay. Let's get you outside before I take off." He said and took the dog out side one last time before locking him inside the apartment and heading to the restaurant to meet his sons.

Connie had come under duress. And a pile of big favors Harry said he'd owe her. But she showed up with Harry and sat down at the table with Dean and Sam.

"You two are insane." She said.

"Yeah. We know." Dean said with a grin and waved his father over as he saw John enter. "Come on, I just got out of the hospital w here they were feeding me baby food---"

"That you couldn't keep down." Harry remarked.

"Anyway..." Dean said, ignoring Harry. "I thought a dinner out, where I'm not being coddled and hovered over would be good. That's all."

Sam laughed. "Yeah, he thinks he's not being hovered over... right... you keep thinking that."

John approached the table and cleared his throat before taking a seat. "Did I miss anything?"

"Just Sam being mean to me." Dean said with a grin at his brother. "But he did promise that you were all done hovering. Because that's annoying."

"I don't recall giving Sam permission to make promises for me." John said with a frown, even though his eyes were twinkling. "I don't know... I think I still need to hover. Have a few years to make up for."

Dean groaned as Connie laughed. "Uh oh, you screwed the pooch on that one, Winchester." She said to Dean. "I think it's fitting myself, he needs a babysitter and someone to hand out the time outs big time." She said to John.

"Dean never needed time outs when he was little. Sam on the other hand, was a handful" John said with a smile. " Of course that was because his brother spoiled him too much."

"See... it was all your fault." Sam told his brother with a grin. "I told you I was the good son."

"No, Dad clearly said I didn't need time outs and you did. Which makes me the good son." Dean shot back.

"You're going to regret opening that one up." Connie remarked, even if they'd battle only playfully.

"Nope." Said John. "I'm going to sit back and watch." He smiled. "After all, they chose a restaurant that had me getting into a suit to get through the door. Thought for a minute there I was going to have to wear the tie after all."

"Ooh a tie." Connie said. "When you were pantyhose, heels, and a dress...then we'll talk about how much dress codes suck."

Dean chuckled into his napkin. "Dude, I think they're flirting. Kinda. Dad's kinda rusty." He whispered to Sam.

"He's not the only one." Sam whispered back.

"When I wear pantyhose, heels and a dress, someone call an exorcist." John said with a chuckle. The imagery it called to mind was frightening at best. "But you on the other hand, on you it looks good."

"Was that a compliment, or a silent plea to keep my underwear draw far away from you?" She asked with a grin.

"Dude, she's blushing. Harry, Murph's blushing." Dean whispered. Nice, quiet conversation so as not to distract from the main show.

"It was a compliment. No designs on your underwear drawer. Don't think we wear the same size." John said with a wink. "Although I bet the gun I would find there is probably a good one."

She grinned at him, and Connie had a powerful grin when she turned it on. "First time for everything. Never had a guy want to check out my gun rack before."

"I think that a man would have to be very careful how he checked out anything with you." John said as he looked at her. "Could be very dangerous territory." Any sane man with all his equipment and absolutely no knowledge of show tunes or women's shoes would be checking out Murphy in his opinion.

"Dangerous has it's good side." She responded. "Besides, guys that shy away from danger, really, they should stay at home with their mothers and don't even bother."

John smiled at that. "There is a difference between being careful how you handle a dangerous situation, and shying away from it." He pointed out. "Makes the difference between success and sudden, ugly death."

Connie laughed. "So that's the new lingo for getting shot down, huh?" She said with a grin. "Don't worry, I left my good gun in my other purse. Sudden ugly death and this dress don't go together."

John chuckled. "Lady, the last time I was shot down was the first time I met their mother. And believe me... that's not bragging." He said with a grin. "So new lingo is a total loss on me. " He was so far out of circulation with real live dating and dealing with women that it was bordering on pathetic. "But it's good to know the good gun is still in the underwear drawer."

"Your wife shot you down?" Connie said and laughed. "Good to know you're persistent then."

"What? You think we came upon stubbornness in a game of chance?" Dean said with a grin.

"You get it as much from your mother as from me, believe me. " John grinned. " That is as much a Morningway trait as it is a Winchester or Dresden one." Considering there wasn't a man at that table that didn't have more than their fair share of concrete lining their skull. Or steel in their spine. "Yeah she shot me down hard core. When she finally stopped shooting me down, I was sure your grandfather was going to shoot me down for real. Although he wasn't aiming a shot gun my way."

Dean laughed. "Okay, next time a father threatens to shoot me, I can console myself that it's a family trait!" He said. He'd had his fair share of fathers reaching for their guns because of him.

Connie shook her head. "Sometimes you have to worry about the mothers, Dean." She said with a grin.

Harry laughed. "That I can attest to." He said. "And grandmas are known to be the worst although they tend to just beat you about the head and shoulders with whatever is handy."

"I've got Sammy for that." Dean teased his brother. "He's such a girl you know."

"It's the hair." John agreed with a nod as the waiter brought their bread.

"There is nothing wrong with my hair." Sam objected. "I'm not a marine. I don't need my hair off of my ears."

Harry chuckled. "You know I saw this really cute clerk the other day with that hair style. She was a redhead. Suited her somehow."

"Ooh, hear that, Sammy? Soon you're going to be hit on by dirty old men like Harry." Dean said with a laugh.

"If your only clue that someone is a man or a woman is their hair... you seriously have a problem." Sam pointed out.

"I'm not the one that hit on the redhead with your hair cut." Dean replied with a laugh.

"I really feel for whatever girl you three end up with." Connie said with a laugh. "I really do."

Sam and Dean exchanged a look, but Harry covered for them. "I can only hope that there is more than one girl between the three of us. That could cause some ... interesting problems."

"That it would." Connie said with a laugh. She was talking hypothetically of course, and realized belatedly she couldn't do that with Dean and Sam. When it came to their personal lives they were very much concrete thinkers.

Sam grinned. "Yeah. But we don't have to worry about Dean, he already has two girlfriends. Both of which are extremely jealous." He teased, letting the mood pass, because he wanted to. He could deal with the past later, when he was alone.

"Think I'm down to one." Dean said, going with it. "Think I got dumped for two guys."

"So you did get the puppies." Harry said with a laugh. "Good for you. About time Max let you off your leash."

"Nah she didn't dump you. She is just playing mommy to your daddy with those pups." Sam said.

"Puppies?" John asked, this was news to him.

"Sam got pugs for me. To keep me out of trouble. But shhh, he doesn't know that I know that." Dean said with a grin. "Two little boy puppies, he's gonna take one because he's been bitten by the insane pet owner bug according to him."

"I have pets and I'm not insane." Harry said.

"That's debatable." Connie said with a laugh. "But you don't have pets. You have very furry roommates who don't pay rent and eat all your food."

"There is a difference." John said. "Not sure Mutt counts as a pet either... more like a partner."

"We're all insane in one way or another." Sam said. "Or we wouldn't willingly deal with the things we deal with on a daily basis. The pet thing just exacerbates it. "

"Dude, Max is, like, the one normal part of my life. I'd say the car, but you swear she's possessed." Dean said.

"You have any idea how scary that is? But then again... she really is a normal dog... well... a normal pug anyway. Pugs are not normal dogs." Sam pointed out.

"Nope. They're exceptional dogs." Dean said. "And you were the one who ordered my dog to babysit me."

"Hey she was willing to do it. She was seriously mourning you until we got a lead. I have never heard a dog scream like that before. "

"My dog loves me." Dean said with a grin. "And if you hadn't found me, she would have made your life a living hell, trust me. I'd say she's attached. Which is good, I'm attached too."

"She's in good shape too. She might be one of those dogs that makes it to 20. I've heard of it happening." Sam said.

"I hope so." Dean said. He was attached to his dog. He'd admit it. And Max was already getting up there for a dog, though she didn't act it, she was elderly for a pug. Which was why the vet was seeing a lot of Max and Dean lately.

It was also half of the reason Sam got the pups. Figured it would be at least a little easier when she went if Dean wasn't suddenly dogless. He figured if he was, Dean would treat it the same way he did the Melissa situation and swear off dogs along with relationships.

"I have no idea how old Mouse is." Harry said. "I figure it's his business."

Dean pointed at Harry. "See! He talks to animals like they were people too!" He said triumphantly to his younger brother. John and Connie weren't even really listening to the boys argue over if pets were people any longer, talking amongst themselves instead.

"Harry wouldn't go into fits of depression if Mouse moved on either." Sam pointed out. "He doesn't need his doggie with him in the hospital, or to fill in for a teddy bear."

"Dude, I'm not a depressive person." Dean said with a scowl. "And Max was there as much for her sake as mine. She's not that heavy, and I didn't see you able to drag her away either."

"I didn't really try either." Sam pointed out.

John glanced up at the waitress and indicated she should take Murphy's order first. He glanced over at the boys and smiled a little. He could remember similar scenes when they were little, only those arguments would usually end with Sam in tears and Dean trying to make him smile some how.

"Yeah, cause you knew better." Dean said with a grin. "I couldn't get all the brains in the family after all, there were a few left over for you."

"Dean, you barely graduated high school. Your tutors were convinced you were demon spawn... including Bob." Sam pointed out. Even though he knew his brother was brilliant in his own way.

"Yeah well how about the Winchester brain trust orders their food so the nice lady can get on with her job?" John said giving his boys a look.

"Yes, Sir."

"Sorry, sir." Dean said and ordered quickly after Sam, giving the waitress his best smile so they wouldn't get shitty service. He figured it worked when she blushed before moving away to head to the kitchen. "And I didn't like high school. That was my problem."

Harry raised an eyebrow at the quick response from the brothers. He had never seen either of them yield so quickly to authority, real or imagined. Although it amused him, that it didn't seem to stop the argument.

"Dean... you don't like anything that doesn't involve pugs, loose women or guns... oh... and cars. Can't forget cars."

"Dude, so wrong." Dean said. "I like...horror movies. And comedies. And...running, as long as it's not for my life. And lots of other things I can't think of right now. Could be worse. I could have a porn addiction like a certain little brother I know."

Connie laughed and looked at John. "How did you do that?" She asked. Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.

"Train them when they are young." He said with a shrug. "Respect is the key. Lose that and the battle is over." They were the same boys. Just older... with more ammunition to throw.

"Once... you caught me looking at it once. That doesn't make it an addiction."

"Hey... there's a lady present." John said, noticing the direction the conversation was headed.

"You were watching. Watching is not looking." Dean said, but shut his mouth and glanced at Murphy. "Sorry." He said.

"Accepted." Connie said with a nod. "Besides, brings up imagery I'd rather not have."

"You and me both." Said John with a faint chuckle. "Anyway... how are things going back at the mansion other than new puppies that I am going to have to come and see. When ever it is we are supposed to be talking again."

"We can start talking now." Dean said. "The pain meds the nurse keeps giving me that I cheek then flush can make me a very malleable target after all, right?"

John chuckled and Harry nearly choked. "You are the least malleable target I know." Harry said. "Especially when you are on medication."

Dean laughed. "Okay, maybe. But it's as good a story as any." He said with a grin.

"So should I mention on how it's probably counter productive NOT to take your medication?" Connie asked dryly.

"See." Sam said.

"She has a point." said Harry.

"Is the pain unbearable?" John asked. "If not, it's not a big deal. Antibiotics are something different entirely."

"Dean doesn't process pain the way normal people do." Harry said with a chuckle. "Normal people say ow. Dean says is that all ya got?"

"He's a Winchester." John said with a smile.

"I still say ow." Sam said pointedly. "It's not a Winchester thing. I think it's a stubborn thing."

"There's a difference?" Harry asked.

"You only say ow when I hit you." Dean said with a laugh. "And that's only if there's someone around who will fall for the puppy dog eyes. Don't start, Sam."

"I don't have puppy dog eyes." Sam said and looked up as their meals were delivered. "Thank you." He told the waitress as she set his plate before him.

"Yeah, you do." Dean said as he thanked the waitress as well. "This might be the best meal I've had." He said. Because it was 'forbidden' and he had been eating hospital jello.

"No... I don't." Sam said as he spread his napkin over his lap.

"Were they like this when they were little too?" Harry asked. 

"Worse." John said simply.

"Want me to cut your meat up for you too, Sammy?" Dean teased. Connie started laughing, covering it up as best she could with her napkin.

"Let me guess, you exiled them to the back seat and turned the music up?" Connie asked John through her laughter.

"Oh yeah." John said with a nod. "Lots of heavy metal... was the only thing that would drown them out."

"Still works too!" Dean said with a grin. "Even Sammy can't talk over Metallica. Good stuff."

"Wanna bet?" Sam said, returning his brother's grin.

"You didn't know there was going to be a floor show with dinner, did you?" John asked Connie. He wondered where the boys found the energy to just keep at each other this way.

"They remind me of Abbott and Costello." Connie said with a chuckle. "Do they ever tire out or do they do this in their sleep?"

"They didn't used to. Dean used to make sure Sam was asleep before he would even lay down. No matter what I tried to get him to do. Especially when Sam was a baby. "

Connie could see it. There was still a great deal of the caretaking older brother in Dean, even if it was tempered by an equally caretaking younger brother. "Well, now they're older and their bedtimes were pushed back even later." She said with a laugh.

"They keep this up, I'm going to limit their sugar and caffeine and send them to bed at 8 like good little boys." John said with a grin. He knew that would never happen. They were being playful. It was good to see. Not so annoying when it wasn't going on for mile after mile with an emotional Sam and no place to escape it for a moment or two. And there was only so much advil a man could take. 

"Ooh, those might be fighting words. Really want them to join forces and start Act Two with you as the target?" Connie teased.

"They would have to notice first. Right now they are only hearing and seeing each other for the most part." John said, still somewhat in awe that their bond had remained so strong through the years, with a so called normal life, and college, and lost loves.

"I think it's great." Connie said. She'd been there for the Melissa meltdown, on the peripheral of course. And the Jessica tragedy. Both hit both boys so hard, they were probably still here only because of each other.

"Yeah... I think it's probably best for them both." He knew that in the beginning it had only been the boys that had kept him from eating a bullet after Mary's death. When they had been taken from him, it had turned into a hunt to find them. After that, he had been living from kill to kill and a little more heavily in the bottle than he would like to admit. It was probably for the best that they still had that tight a connection. Would keep them going no matter what hit them in life.

Connie picked at her food a bit and looked at John. "Think they'll notice if we left and grabbed a burger?"

John grinned at her. "Let's find out." He said as he got up from his seat and pulled her chair out for her. He liked that idea a lot. This wasn't his sort of place and besides, the boys (all three of them) had set this dinner up as a blind date. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. Better to do that in territory where they both felt comfortable.

Connie grinned and got up. "Hey, where are you crazy kids off to?" Dean asked.

"Off to cause some trouble." She said with a laugh.

"I'm sure you three will be fine unsupervised through dinner." John said with a grin. He resisted the urge to tell Sam not to wait up for him.

Dean sat back as they left. "Well, that worked out better than I thought it would." He said with a grin.

"No kidding." Sam said as he buttered his roll. "I think they are really into each other... I think I am crashing at your place tonight, Harry. I don't want to know how late he is getting home tonight. Want my psyche unmarred by that sort of things. Parental units being you know... not that sort of people."

"I can't believe I agreed to hook my best friend up with your father." Harry said with a chuckle and a shake of his head.

"Dude, you completely pimped her out." Dean said, laughing. "I have never see Murph in a dress before."

"They seemed keen on the idea. Or at least the appearance of it." Sam said. "For all we know, they are heading out of here and going seperate ways but that wasn't the vibe I was getting."

Dean laughed. "Dude, this is great. Now I have Dad completely distracted from me!" He said, in regards to his 'recovery.'

"I wouldn't count on that. It might turn out that you have John and Murph both interested in your well being if this works out between them." Harry pointed out with a grin.

"Crap. Come on, Sam, let's go break them up or something." He joked. "Really, I'm fine. You all worry way too much."

"No, we're just making up for all the worrying you don't do" Sam said. And then sighed. "I met with Merlin and Ancient Mei today."

"Yeah, how'd that go?" Dean said as he ate. Finally something more than soup or jello. Not that it had been long since Sam brought him the sub, but still.

"Yeah, it went okay. They are testing me, I think. Not sure I am going to pass the test. But it doesn't matter in the end. I am now fully sworn in as a member of the council and they thought to send me on a suicide mission I think." He laughed not meaning suicide literally. "Wanted me to renegotiate with Bianca. Want to turn the treaty into a partnership but don't want to give me details of what that means. So I said I would let her know they had made the offer but that was about it."

Dean laughed. "They probably think Bianca will eat you whole and spit you out." Not that she wasn't capable of it. Just that there was an arrangement between the Winchester/Dresden side of things, and Bianca personally. "I can just imagine what kind of partnership they want. I offered a partnership to a company once, as soon as the forms were signed, I took over and ousted their board."

"Which I am pretty sure is what they have in mind. It would seriously boost the council's power base to have the Red Court completely under their thumb. I am sure Bianca isn't going to go any where near a deal like that."

"Yeah, Bianca under someone's thumb. I'd love to see that." Dean said with a snicker.

"I wouldn't. That could only end in a blood bath." Harry said.

"It troubles me that the council is so blind to what the world is like. I mean, I know that we have a unique perspective, coming from a mixed back ground ... but they really do think wizards and the rest of the populace live in different worlds."

"Well, we kinda do." Harry said. "Even hunters and the normal people are seperate. The guy at the table over there, sees a tornado warning somewhere in the state. Thinks, well, it's not the season, just one of those things. Your brother jumps to his computer to put together another pattern, knowing it's not one of those things. Me? I see if its magical in any origin, and possibly harmful. But that guy, it's just a tornado."

"That's just perspective." Dean said.

"Maybe. Perspective, knowledge, power, ability, training, it does separate us." Harry said.

"But to use a hackneyed phrase... with power and knowledge comes responsibility. It's wrong to think that the... degrees of separation means that we get to just ignore what goes on around us." Sam said.

"I knew my brother was a geek! Geek during the day, superhero at night." Dean said, referencing Spider-man.

"Watch it, the geek ended up with the supermodel, remember? Gotta give Peter Parker some props." Harry said with a laugh. "The council has blinders. It's always had blinders. It's how it survives, and how the magical community survives. It's horrible to say, I don't like it, but that's the truth about any controlling infrastructure."

"Yeah well, they are gonna seriously get tired of my throwing in my two cents worth then." Sam said. "Had my blinders removed a long time ago. That is if any of them are still left alive after the box situation is dealt with. Summoning demons is an instant death sentence for a wizard. Council or not."

"Well, they'll probably just change the laws then." Dean said with a chuckle. "No one except the Council can summon and control demons. Cause then they'll be above the law."

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Sam would stand firm on that one no matter what it cost him. "I don't know what to think of Mei.. but I don't get that sort of vibe off of Merlin."

"Because you don't get that vibe off Merlin or because you can't read him?" Harry asked. He'd met the Merlin on a few occasions.

"I don't know if I can read him clearly or not... but I get the feeling he is about as by the book as you can get." Sam said honestly. "Now what book he is reading from... that's the question."

"Actually that's a very good question." Harry said with a sigh. "There are all sorts of books they could reference. Some heading into the black area, but just white enough to pass, that he could read from and justify everything in." Magic was a practice as old as man after all.

"Yeah, look at Justin." Sam said with a scowl. "He has some damned justification for everything he has done, and how it was all for unselfish reasons."

"Oh of course. And he knew it would all work out for the best, so it's all right." Dean said, with his own scowl. "I don't know that he's in as complete control as he likes to pretend he is."

"You thinking good ole Uncle Justin has slipped a cog somewhere?" Harry asked, taking a drink of his coffee. He wouldn't doubt it. Wouldn't doubt it at all.

"Oh, nice." Dean said, shaking his head. "That would be just perfect. If he has, then he might know we're all plotting against him."

Sam laughed a little then. "Would be just our luck his derangement is paranoia."

"No." Said Harry. "I'm thnking more megalomania."

"Great." Dean said. "Well, we'll deal with that if it comes up. He probably thinks we're just misguided anyway, and with time we'll come around."

"That's his usual song and dance yeah." Harry said. "But hey, we didn't come here to talk about Justin. I, for one, want to enjoy my dinner. I don't get out like this often."

"Okay." Dean said. "So the hospital made me meet with an addictions counselor. She was cute. Wonder if I should fake a crisis of sobreity to get a hook up?"

"Dude that is seriously low." Sam said, shaking his head. "You sure that just, you know... asking her out wouldn't work? Or does she think you are addicted to drugs or something?"

"Of course she thinks I'm addicted to drugs. Those people are really hard to convince once they get their minds stuck on something." Dean said. "They were told I was, and there's no telling them that I'm not. I don't know, people are crazier than I thought. Or just more gullible."

"Well if they told her you were addicted to vampire saliva... they would probably lock up the doc and you for the information." Harry said. He knew there was no point in asking Dean how he was doing with that. More to the point, Dean wouldn't really know until he came in contact with a vampire. "Maybe you should find a nice lady hunter to hook up with somewhere."

Dean laughed. "Yeah, and we'll find a nice gypsy psychic working out of a kiosk for you." He said with a grin. "Dude, a lot of the female hunters out there...they're either Dad's age, already married, or damn...not really flowing with the estrogen."

Sam started laughing at that description. "There's always Jo." He said, his eyes twinkling.

"Well, yeah, sure. If I wasn't afraid of her mother!" Dean said with a laugh. "And is she out of high school yet?" He asked, knowing full well she'd dropped out of college.

"Ellen's a pussy cat, what are you scared of?" Sam asked, teasingly. Ellen liked him just fine. Then again her daughter wasn't interested in Sam, which might have had more to do with it than one might think.

"Uh...her shot gun? Her rifle? Her hand gun? The fact she could poison my drink?" Dean said with a laugh. "Where to start?"

"How do you meet these people?" Harry said with a laugh. Not that his connections were any less colorful.

"It's okay. you and Jo would kill each other in a week anyway. She wants a lap dog and you are definitely a terrier." Pit bull terrier, Sam thought, but he didn't say that. Let Dean have visions of Jack Russell or Rat Terriers.

Dean laughed. "Dude, you wouldn't believe the people we've met." Dean said. "About the same as I look at you in total shock at some of the people you know. Comes with the life I guess. It's all right. I like them all a lot better than the boardroom types. Even the ones I hate."

"Yet there you sit, CEO of a powerful corporation." Harry shook his head. "Wouldn't even occur to you to sell the company and live off the profits for the rest of your life. "

"Why would it?" Dean asked as he grabbed another piece of bread from the bread basket. "I completely get off the look of shock from just about everyone just about every time. It's fun. In a really demented, power trippy sort of way."

Sam and Harry shook their heads. "You are an executive... for the shock value." Sam said. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

Dean laughed. "We're a varied family." He said with a grin. "Harry's an advertised wizard who refuses to make balloon animals. Talk about a let down."

"It's the whole surrounded by 30 screaming kids thing. You know they all start screaming when the balloon dog starts barking and wagging his tail."

"Likely story." Dean said with a laugh. "I bet you don't even know how. Even I know how." He said with a grin. "Maybe even Sammy knows how."

"No... I hate that squeaky sound the latex makes when you twist it. It's like nails on a chalk board. Besides ... Bob used to get upset when I would let go of the balloon without tying it and it went right through him. " Sam said laughing a little at the old memory.

Dean laughed. "Yeah he did. It was pretty funny. Maybe we should try that again. Cause now that we're all grown up and everything, he wouldn't be expecting it." Dean said with a grin. "It never gets old, playing pranks on a ghost."

Harry chuckled. "Now I know why he was so willing to come live with me after Justin died." He smiled none the less. He hadn't had a brother growing up, Bob was who he had bonded with when he was living at the mansion early on.

"I thought it was because he figured you still needed a babysitter." Dean teased. It was Bob who would suggest from time to time, maybe you should get some real food. Maybe you should go out.

Harry chuckled. "He probably just wanted out of that class room."

"You know, I could buy that." Sam said. "Ever consider taking the man to the theatre or something? Yeah, you would have to buy two tickets but the man deserves a little entertainment now and again."

"I'll spring for Bob's ticket." Dean offered. Harry refused the family money, and his earning were based on how much work he could get at one time, even with the commission from the police department. "But you know Bob wants porn, so maybe Sam should take him."

"Dude... I do not have a porn addiction." Sam pointed out. "But you know... maybe you should take him to mud wrestling or something. Didn't you go out with one of those a time or two?"

"Hey, you're right. I think he'd enjoy that too." Dean said with a laugh. "So should I pick Bob up, Friday at nine?" Dean asked with a grin.

Harry chuckled. "Be my guest. I will let him know. Should be interesting to say the least." He said.

"Hey, he might be dead and all ghost and all, but a guy's got needs you know." Dean said with a laugh. "It'll be good for him."

"Or it could start a whole new fixation but what the hell. He deserves it. Gave up a physical body to save me after all."

"Dude, I have a physical body, and I have a fixation." Dean said with a laugh. "I'm worried about you two because you don't!"

"I have one... I just keep it in between me and the current object of my fixation." Harry said. Most often the waitress from his favorite cafe.

"I'm not ready yet is all." Sam said.

"Who said anything about ready?" Dean said. "It's just the appreciation of the aesthetic. I'll take one for the team and take them home, it's all right."

"This from the man who holds one moment of watching porn against me." Sam said, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah!" Dean said with a laugh. "Because whenever I mention it, you get a priceless look on your face. I'll find something to use against Harry, don't worry."

"Yeah, you keep thinking that if it makes you feel better." Harry said as he finished his meal. "This was good, thank you."

"Completely worth it. I got to see Murph in a dress, and became the favorite son for getting Dad all hooked up." Dean said with a grin.

"Sure until she pulls a gun on him like all of Dad's other friends do. Then you won't be the favorite anymore." Sam teased.

"They try to shoot him and he still calls them friends?" Harry asked.

Dean laughed. "I tried to beat the shit out of him and I call him Dad." Dean pointed out. "Dad...he just has an awfully special way with people."

"You know... that you tried scares the hell out of me. " Harry said. "How often to you use that phrase ... usually there is no try, there is only do."

"Yeah, I know." Dean said with a laugh. "So does this mean you're not gonna pick a fight with him? I don't know, that could be interesting."

"I don't know, I'm not one for physical violence." Harry said with a grin. "Unless it involves hockey sticks." Which could be taken to several places, all of which would be accurate.

Dean laughed at that as he settled the check. "Yeah, I can just imagine." He said, still chuckling. "Sometimes I think I was adopted, or switched at birth or something."

"No you just take after Dad's side of the family is all... even if you look more like Mom." Sam said with a grin. "It's probably why he is so against long hair. It gets long enough to really touch his ears and he is the one that looks like a girl."

"Yeah, that's it. Has nothing to do with the whole Marine thing at all." Dean said with a laugh. "Or the fact that you do like Samantha from a distance with the hair. He's got a point."

"Anyone who mistakes someone my height, with my shoulders for a girl... needs glasses. I don't care how long my hair is at the time." Sam pointed out.

"Or you could be one of those people who used to be a guy, and now they're a girl." Dean said with a nod. "City's full of them."

"They usually dress more girly than the girls do." Sam pointed out. 

"He's got a point there." Harry said.

"I think you just have an unhealthy fixation on having a little sister instead of a brother." Sam teased.

"And you have an unhealthy fixation with porn." Dean said with a smirk. "Guess we're even then."

"No... you have an unhealthy fixation with me having watched porn. There is a difference."

"Dude, I don't care if you watch porn. I care if you're watching it knowing I could walk in at any time! There are a lot of parts of you I don't want to see, and a lot of things you do that I shouldn't be subjected to!" Dean protested as Harry laughed.

"I turned it off when you came in." Sam said giving him a look. "And who is the one subjecting whom to what? Please... what about your little vibrating bed habit?"

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Vibrating bed habit?"

"Dude, I was on house arrest for the most part." Dean explained. He had to lay low from the cops once in a while, aliases or not. "What was I supposed to do? Plugged in my I-Pod and got a massage for a quarter at a time. Perfectly normal!"

"It isn't normal when I come in and you are begging for more quarters. You must have slammed at least 50 bucks into that thing a quarter at a time. That is seriously not normal."

"I wasn't begging. I just asked." Dean said. "He's completely nuts, Harry."

"Yeah... well... appears to be a Winchester trait. " Harry said with a chuckle. He figured they were all nuts in their own way but he wasn't about to list himself with the others. That was just asking for Dean to open up on him after all, and Harry, well... Harry didn't play fair.

"We should spy on Dad and Murph." Dean said. "I mean, they should be chaperoned, right? Crazy kids like them."

"Now I know you're nuts. You do realize she is always packing right?" Harry said. "And stands a good chance against you in hand to hand combat? I recommend getting home to your girlfriend and the kiddies before Max decides you're a dead beat dad."

Dean laughed. "Got a point there. But I always pack too." He pointed out. "Fine, come on Sam. Let's go check on the puppies before you go back to Harry's then decide to call me in the middle of the night."

"Is that your way of telling me it's my responsibility to wake you up for the late night feedings? I bet Maxie will wake you up all on her own."

"It's my way of telling you no calling at odd hours because you realized you don't know how your puppy is doing at any given time." Dean said with a laugh. "Don't give me a look, you already admitted you were becoming an insane pet owner."

"Yeah okay. " Sam said with a laugh. "Guess if you can raise me, you can figure out what to do with a puppy. Especially with Maxie there to tell you what needs doing."

"Dude, I hand raised Max." Dean said. Max hadn't gone to obedience school, there had been no dog trainer in the house, no doggy day schools, just her and Dean. "I think I've got a handle on it."

"Okay, so I can sleep just fine." He said with a grin although the pup would be a good excuse to move back in, except he was enjoying getting to know their father more.

"At least one of us can. I have this odd feeling I'm going to get kicked out of my own bed by a bunch of dogs." Dean said with a shake of his head.

"Dad managed to sleep with you and me in a queen sized bed on more than one occasion. I think we were much bigger than a pug." Sam pointed out.

"Yeah, but we weren't Maxie." Dean said with a chuckle. "So if I'm all stiff...and not in a good way...tomorrow, you all will know why!"

"If you are all stiff in a good way... you need help." Sam pointed out as he got to his feet.

TMATMATMATMATMA

John came back to their table with a pitcher of beer and two glasses. "This is much better. Thanks for suggesting it." John said as he took his seat and filled the glasses.

Connie laughed. "For someone who hated school, Dean gets off on being a scientist. Pluck us out of our environment, then study us and look for behavioral changes." She said with a grin.

"That, coupled with Sam's strangely romantic nature, made for an interesting experiment. Fortunately neither of us are Pavlov's dog." John said. "And managed to find our own way."

"Oh, cheers to that!" Connie said as she picked up her beer."They really should have known better though."

"Yeah. Who would think my boys would be comfortable in a 5 star restaurant? You know... I think Harry looked at ease as well. I figured him for a cheap diner kinda guy." Some of John's favorite restaurants along the back roads were cheap diners. They had some of the best food anywhere.

"Give them a little credit." Connie said with a grin. "Wasn't chosen for the food, they'll eat anything. Just in case, you know, things came up, we were guaranteed privacy without having to hedge our words." She pointed out.

"There is that." He said. "Although sometimes it would be nice not to have things come up." He smiled a little sadly. "Unfortunately none of us are in the line of work that gives us much chance of things not coming up. " Even Dean. He was a CEO to pay for his hunting expeditions.

"Yeah, but I'm the only one that truly gets paid for this line of work." She pointed out with a grin. "Even Harry doesn't get paid for everything he does."

"Yeah... you also get to hang it up when you walk through the door at night along side your weapons and badge. I envy you that." John said.

"You think so?" Connie said. "I get home, and I just think about what's out there that I'm not catching because I'm home. Human monsters and all the other kinds."

"Now that's rough. How do you deal with that with your daughter?" John asked. "I never seemed to manage with the boys, I was too afraid it would come for Sam again. "

"Guess that's the secret." Connie said. "Nothing's after my daughter. That helps a lot, believe me, when it comes to dealing."

"Gotta keep it that way Connie... what ever it takes. Sam... even far away from me... growing up as normal as it could be for him... it still hunted him down. "

"John, it's not your fault that whatever is after Sam, is after him." Connie said.

"I know... doesn't change the fact that I couldn't protect him." He said and sighed. "And we didn't come here so that I could bitch moan and groan about the past." He chuckled softly. "Sorry about that." 

She waved off the apology. "Don't worry about it. That was the free pass though. Next time I'll just smack you upside the head or something." She said with a grin.

John raised both eyebrows briefly and grinned at her. "I'd better behave." He looked up as the waitress brought over their hamburgers. He thanked her and looked back at Murphy. "So what made you want to be a cop?" He said, with genuine interest. Not the usual tone of why on earth would a woman want such a thing?

"My dad was a cop. I grew up in stations and around cops." She said. "I don't know, I guess it's kind of in my blood you could say. He was a detective, and it was just one of those things I always knew I was going to do."

"I got drafted... in both cases." John said with a faint laugh. "My dad was a mechanic, so I was working on cars from the moment I was old enough to stand. So when the war ended..." It was a war. John didn't care what they called it. He had spent three years over there, he knew what it was like, politicians didn't have a clue about much of anything as far as he was concerned. "That's what I did. When Mary died... and I figured out what it was out there... and that it was after my boy... there was nothing else to do but stay on the move and fight. Never really stopped moving and fighting after they were taken. "

"Well, explains Dean's fascination with cars." Connie said. The Morningway estate hadn't had a mechanic since Dean turned fifteen, she remembered Harry telling her that. Probably one of the reasons why the Blue Beetle was still running.

John laughed a little. "Yeah he was always out there wanting to help when I was working on the Impala. I was under the hood, and there was Dean handing me tools at 4. That was before the world went up in flames. Afterwards, Dean would bring Sammy's carrier out and park it beside us on the grass and stand there handing me tools until he was old enough to do some of it himself. " John smiled. "And he was always asking, every time. 'am I big enough yet, Daddy?'"

Connie smiled. "I can see that." She said with a laugh. "It's good that he has ways to keep himself occupied though." She knew a Bored Dean was a Dangerous Dean, even if he was more dangerous to himself than anyone else.

"Dean always found ways to entertain himself. Some of them less appealing than others. What about your daughter? Tell me about her?" John said, not wanting to spend the entire time talking about himself, even though it was rare that he felt comfortable in doing so.

Connie laughed. "Poor Anna, she's a linebacker trapped in a ballerina's body." She said and went on a fifteen minute long monologue abouther daughter before she laughed again. "Yeah, I could easily put someone to sleep once you get me on that subject."

John laughed. "Not at all. I like hearing about her. You let me go on and on about the boys." He said, refilling their glasses. "Sounds like you have your hands full and are loving every minute of it."

"Absolutely." Connie said with a laugh. "It's the trademark of a parent. Admit it, there are things that Dean and Sam did that had you seeing red, but now...it's hilarious."

"Oh yeah. Just the nature of kids. It's funny what seems so important in the moment, but really isn't in the grand scheme of things." He shared some of Dean and Sam's more interesting antics from when they were little.

Connie told John what Anna had managed to put her through so far until she looked at her watch. "Speaking of the rugrat, I have to go relieve the babysitter." She said with laugh. "Before she charges me triple."

John picked up the tab, and rose to go pull out her chair. Location didn't make him any less a gentleman. "I'm glad we ditched the boys. I had a good time tonight."

"You know, so did I." Connie said with a grin. "Much better than the hospital."

"Certainly a lot fewer threats of violence." He added with a chuckle. "So, would it be alright to call you ... maybe do this again?"

"It would be all right." She said as she wrote her number on a matchbook and handed it to him.

John smiled. "Great." He said and wrote his number down as well. The cell phone just in case he was working "So, let's get you back to your car." He said as he gave her the number.

She slipped the number into her purse and grinned. "Yeah, we should." She said. "I suprisingly had a good time. Once we got out of that restaurant anyway."

"Me too. 4 star restaurants and I just don't agree with one another." He said as he escorted her to the truck. "Dean, I think, wanted to make sure I made a good impression. "

Connie laughed. "You got pimped out by your sons." She said with a grin. "How's it feel?"

John laughed. "Well since it worked out so well, I won't ground them for it." He said, returning the grin.

"So that's the secret to staying out of trouble. Hook you up on blind dates." She said with a chuckle. "They do that a lot?"

"Nope. This is a first. " He said as he started the truck. "It's definitely different dealing with adult sons than children. "

"I can imagine." Connie said. "Most of all remembering that they're grown men, no matter how they act in public."

"That's the hard one. I still want to step in and tell them how to do things and no he can't just walk out of the hospital like an idiot."

"Good luck on that one." Connie said with a laugh. "It's all the way around. Sam doesn't like hospitals, Harry doesn't like hospitals...I don't know, is it a manly thing or something?"

"Most men don't like feeling helpless. Doesn't get much more helpless than a hospital bed." John explained. "Harry and Sam, I think, have even more worries since they short out electrical equipment."

"Yeah, poor guys. But at least we don't have to worry about losing them to the cyber world or video games."

"There is that." John said. "We didn't have those things when the boys were little, anyway. Just the TV in the motel room and they seem to be okay around televisions so long as they don't mess with them too much."

"A man who can't channel surf. It's a wonder they haven't offed themselves out of despair yet." She said with a laugh.

John laughed. "It's a miracle no one has scooped Harry up and made him take that ever growing back payment Dean keeps trying to force on him."

"Harry keeps a low profile." Connie said. "Not many people know he's technically as loaded as he is. That's his secret."

"More like his shame the way he goes about it." John said. "I don't know... can't say I blame him. Mary wanted none of the Morningway money or stigma... but now that the old boy is back amongst the theoretically living... hell... now would be a good time to take Dean up on the offer. Give it to charity... something Justin despises or something. "

Connie laughed. "That would stick it to Justin I'm sure." She said. "I don't know, I think Dean feels a little hurt. He figures now it's his money, seeing as he's the one earning it right now."

"You're probably right. Something Harry might want to consider. But he seems like he's set in his ways and all. Not that I have any room to talk." He said with a chuckle.

Connie chuckled. Oh it was going to be interesting. Dean was generous to a fault with people he cared about. With everything. His attention, his concern, his time, and his money. "I think we're all set in our ways a bit."

John nodded as he pulled into the other restaurants parking lot. "That we are. Hoping to change some of mine ... spend more time locally."

"That's good to hear." Connie said. "Because, you know, Dean and Sam would really like that." She quickly covered.

"Yeah, there are people here I would definitely like to get to know better." John said as he turned off the engine.

She smiled at him for that. "Good." She said. "I'd hate to have to tell your sons I ran you out of town or something."

He laughed softly. "No... no worries about that." He said, gently. He wondered if it was still considered forward to kiss on the first date. It had been a very long time since he had actually dated. He had spent time with other women over the years, but that was by no stretch of the imagination dating.

"You know, it's been a while since I've actually been out with a guy I didn't threaten to arrest." She said with a chuckle. "And now I feel like I'm fifteen again."

"You're not the only one. It's been a long time since I have ... been on real date." He said. "A little rusty on how this whole saying good night thing goes... at least on a first date."

It was definitely strange, at her age, to be so awkward at the end of the date. They'd exchanged phone numbers already. Agreed to see each other again. So that was taken care of. It had gone well, even if they had been thrown together.

The whole dating etiquette had passed over her head, if she'd ever been taught it. So she leaned over in the seat and kissed his cheek. "Call me." She said as she exited he truck to her own car. Because no one had ever described Connie Murphy as easy, in any definition of the word.

John Winchester smiled boyishly as he put the truck in gear and pulled away from the parking lot.

tmatmatma

Maxie nudged Dean, her curly tail pressed tightly against her even as it was wagging madly, looking like some strange mutant cinnamon roll trying to demand civil rights. It was time to take care of the puppies, which she was ill equipped to do on her own.

Dean groaned and pulled his blankets over his head. Which just made Max burrow over them, she was going to wake the human up, whether he liked it or not. So finally, with a groan and a yawn, he sat up, rubbing at his eyes as she bounced about the bed. "Damn things eat more than I do." He grumbled as he went for the formula, shuffling his feet tiredly as he found it and loaded it up into bottles. "Next time, I'm calling Sam."

Justin saw Dean's light on and rapped lightly on the door before pushing it open a little "You're up late." He said as he looked inside. "What's this? Puppies?"

"Sam decided to blackmail me emotionally to take it easy." Dean said. Justin had been right, even if Dean had really been mad at Sam, even if it hadn't been an act, it still wouldn't have lasted long. "Once they're weaned and training is started, he's taking one of them. What are you doing up?"

"Insomnia. Haven't slept well since well.. .coming back. It will pass, I am sure. How are you feeling?" He asked. "Is it working? These puppies?" He stepped in closer to look at the little new born pugs. "They are much smaller than Max was when I brought her home."

"Yeah, Max was six weeks old when I got her." Dean said. "These puppies are about a week old, their mother was abandoned and she died. So they need intensive attention, which was Sam's whole plan I'm sure. He's a sneaky guy."

"That he is. I was informed that he has formally taken my seat with the council. I think they will find they are in over their head with him." Justin said with a smile.

"They probably think he's in over his head. So it should be interesting." Dean said with a chuckle. "I get to watch it from the outside, of course. They don't like to deal with me. Normal people aren't supposed to know what I know after all."

"You would have been an exception no matter what. You were born into a magical family, and your father is a hunter. They can't keep everything secret, no matter how much they would like to."

"Yeah, well, I'm supposed to tow the line, remember?" Dean said. He tried not to tow any line, he preferred to cross them actually. "But guess they'll be in for a surprise with Sam. He's not exactly the tow the line type either, deep down. So if Sam has your seat, what does this mean for you?"

"I suppose that all depends on how badly they want to keep me off of the council... and how badly Harry wants to get back at me. He has had the option of his mother's seat. If he doesn't take it, then I will put in a bid for it."

"You know, now is not the time for you and Harry to start playing push and shove." Dean said as he went to feed the other puppy, as Max curled around the one who had just eaten.

"I've never had any desire to play push and shove with Harry. He can't forgive me for his father and I understand that. But I still care deeply for him . I raised him as I raised you. "

"I don't know. I like to think I waded out of Lake Michigan fully formed and everything." Dean said with a grin. "I know it's incredibly unrealistic of me, but sometimes I just wish we were one big happy family."

"I do as well." Justin said. "It will just take time for everyone to find their place again, to have time to heal and forgive."

Forgive? He obviously didn't know John Winchester. Which was why Dean kept his own secret so tightly guarded. He wasn't sure there was forgiveness left in John, any potential for that burned with his mother. "We haven't named them yet." Dean said instead, in regards to the puppies.

"Which one are you keeping?" Justin asked as he let Dean change the subject. "For that matter, which one does Max want to keep?" He knew who wore the pants in Dean's little family, and it was the dog.

"She hasn't decided yet." Dean said with a laugh. "I guess when the time comes, whichever one she doesn't snap at Sam for getting near is the one that Sam gets to have. I almost feel bad about getting her fixed way back when."

"Yes, but there wouldn't have been any little boy pugs around to get her pregnant anyway. So you did her a favor really. Besides, she is getting to be mommy now. "

"Please, she's my dog. If she wanted some, she woulda found a way." Dean said with a laugh. "So how long are you guys gonna watch me like a hawk?" He asked. "I mean, I can't exactly avoid vampires in my line of work."

"Till you have recovered fully. Now don't give me that look. You aren't at the top of your game right now. When you are... without hurting yourself in the process, I'm sure we can all back off. "

"Yeah, well, who gets to make that decision? All the wheels are in motion, now is not the time for me to be benched." Dean pointed out.

"You aren't benched, and the wheels aren't moving that quickly. Especially with one of the sepulchers secreted away. We have time for you to fully recover. In fact, it's important that you recover fully."

"You know, it's like making the bed." Dean said. "Why bother when you're just going to unmake it at the end of the day?"

"Except that any minor injury weakens you. It's a flaw that can be targeted and preyed upon by others, and if you think the Wardens won't target them, you are wrong. They are warrior wizards, trained as you are, with Sam's magic and the heart of a hunter like your father. Without the compassion. " He had to grant that there was compassion in the man. He wouldn't have been as easy to break if there hadn't been.

Dean shook his head. "Don't worry about me. I won't have much compassion for them either." It was scary sometimes, but he could turn it on and off like a light switch, due to his training, and everything else. Sometimes he wondered if that made him damaged or sick, but most of the time he shrugged it off.

"Of course I am going to worry about you." Justin said "You are not expendable. I never taught you that you were, Dean. If I had thought you were, I never would have given you the additional name of Octavius. Names mean something."

Dean sighed. "I know. I just have cabin fever. And I'm playing along as best I can. Really. Though I called Bianca and I set up a meeting with her. She won't feed off me, so she's safe. But I gotta know how I'm going to react."

"That's wise." Justin said. "I understand Samuel is supposed to meet with her as well. I don't think he should go alone, not with them sending him to request a ... partnership."

"Yeah, cause that's going to go over so well. And it's not suspicious either, I'd demand to go anyway. Because that's a dangerous thing to suggest to someone as...tempermental...as Bianca."

"Yes. I think they are testing Sam, and it's a dangerous test. I didn't expect that out of Merlin. Mei likes to chum the waters with the newbies. Merlin is usually much more sensible. He must have angered them."

"Dude, he's a Winchester. And a Morningway. Smart mouth comes standard." Dean said with a laugh. "As does arrogance, so yeah, I bet he pissed them off."

"Sam has always had a secret loathing for authority." Justin said with a chuckle. "And if they mentioned you and your father breaking treaties I think it would have made his resentment a little less secret."

"I can't break treaties I didn't sign." Dean pointed out. Again. It was an old point. "So Dad and I are in the clear. We're not magical, we're not members of the council, we're not bound by them."

"Never said that you were, but since you are related to Sam, they are going to put pressure on him to get you two to lay off... or more likely take contracts from them if I know them right."

"They can try. Sam's a lot smarter than they think he his. Which is good for us." Dean said.

"I would agree. He also seems to have a way of spotting manipulation from a mile away." Justin said. 

"Yeah, he does." Dean said, looking Justin over carefully. "He's definitely our ace in the hole in that regard."

"I would have to agree." He said with a nod. "It's a good trait to have, although sometimes I wonder if that isn't because he suspects manipulation a little too often. "

"Suspects?" Dean said. "More often than not we're being manipulated in one way or another, even if the excuse is it's for our own good or something assinine like that."

"Well, that could be because you boys won't do things for your own good unless you are manipulated into do so."

"Just remember what they said about the road to hell." Dean said as he returned the other puppy to Max. "I can't take much more of this hovering and Deansitting though."

"Not so much hovering as just visiting I thought. " Justin said as he rose. "You will be fine, just give yourself a little time. I should think Sam was right. By the time the puppies no longer need undivided attention, you should be ready to start training again."

Dean felt bad, he was talking generally. "I didn't mean 'now.'" Dean said. "I meant generally. You know, Sam walked me back to my room to make sure I went there. He probably had to force himself NOT to tuck me in. I'm twenty six years old."

"And your brother feels responsible for not preventing your abduction in the first place. The first time the mission really came first for him and you and your father paid the price in his view. It isn't really hard to figure out why... he is very much like you that way."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Well, he has to stop. Cause I was me first, and I called it first."

Justin laughed then. "Thus sayeth the twenty six year old." In some ways they really were still boys. "I think you need to cut your brother a little slack. "

"I think I've cut him enough slack. Easiest way for me to prove this whole house arrest thing is unnecessary is for me to beat the crap out of him." Dean said with a grin.

"Or Sam could prove his point by not being so easily beaten and then you have embarassment on top of injuring yourself again to deal with. Let's pass on that option." Justin teased.

"Talk about kicking a man when he's down." Dean said with a laugh. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. I have to behave for a little while longer. Just tell the nurse to stop drugging my food. I might eat what she wants me to if she stopped slipping pills into it."

"I will tell her." He said. "So long as you actually continue to rest, your food will be sedative free."

"I'm resting." He said. Kinda. He wasn't how he usually was, mostly in part to the Deansit surrounding him, but that had to count. "Besides, if she keeps trying to sedate me, who's going to feed the puppies?"

"There is that." Justin said "But as Max seems to have the puppies under control at the moment, I should let you get some rest." He said. "Don't worry... this will pass soon enough. " He told his nephew as he rested his hand on his shoulder.

Dean sighed. "Yeah, I know." He said. At least he was out of the hospital, and the nurse wasn't picking his door lock to take his vital signs in the middle of the night. Or trying to tell him when he couldn't have company. Especially the over night kind.

"I'll see you in the morning. Get some sleep while the little ones will let you." He said going toward the door. 

"Night Uncle Justin." Dean said as he settled down in bed, Maxie moving the pups to where she thought they should go. He knew better than to argue with her.

Max settled the pups near to Dean and curled around them to keep them warm on the other side, then licked at Dean's hand, wagging her tail for a moment before resting her head down on the bed. 

Dean settled down, and once he settled down, he had no problems going to sleep. It was the getting up and moving that he had problems with, though he'd deny it if it ever came up. So when he woke up the next morning, it took serious initiative to get up and moving, but he did. Got the dogs settled and headed over to his dad's.

"Dad? You home? Come home at a decent hour?" He said in a teasing tone as he let himself in and made coffee.

John stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. "You're up early. " He said with a smile.

"Well, I didn't have much of a reason to stay up." Dean said and tried to check around for signs of someone else as subtly as he could. Which was a whole lot less subtle than he thought.

John simply chuckled softly and ignored what his son was doing. It was amusing. "You had breakfast yet?" He asked as he grabbed his bathrobe off the near by chair and pulled it on.

"No, I've been up for a while. House was still quiet when I left." Dogs had to do their business, and they didn't look at the clock. "So thought I'd come see how you were, since you ditched us last night for a girl and all." He teased.

"A girl you set me up with I might add." John said as he went to break out the pancake mix, and pull the sausage links from the fridge. "We went someplace a little more suited to our personalities."

"Oh, nice." Dean said. "So you're happy that we set you up? My idea you know."

"Yeah, I had a good time. Got a phone number out of it. Good start." He knew Dean would progress much faster with women. God knew John did out on the road but this was different.

Dean chuckled and poured the coffee for them once it was made. "That's progress. Good job." He said. "So you going to call her? You should call her."

"Yes, but I figured I would do that when she isn't at work." He added with a laugh. "So how hungry are you?"

"I don't know, got a horse in there?" Dean said with a laugh as he slid his father's coffee to him. "Sure, when she's off work sounds good. Sam and I got a date with a vampire anyway. Might bring Harry along. I think he slept with her once, she's hot."

"You sure that's a good idea?" John asked worriedly as he put in most of the package of sausages, and started the first round of pancakes. He knew that one of them had saved his son, but he didn't know how even her presence would affect Dean.

"It's a great idea." Dean said. "Because she's nice, neutral territory. She might think I'm a snack, but she doesn't say it out loud." He said with a shrug. "Can't avoid vamps forever. Not in my line of work, or Sam and Harry's. So...I want to figure out how this works with someone like her."

John nodded even if he didn't like the idea at all. "Fine but you definitely need to take the other boys with you. I'd go but most vamps don't like the idea of a hunter in their midst. "

"I'm definitely taking them with me. That's the plan." Dean said. "Give me a little credit, sure I'm reckless and impulsive, but I don't have a true death wish."

"That's good. From what I understand Sam and Harry were concerned about that for a while." He said flipping the pancakes. "Glad to see that isn't the case."

"Yeah, well, they worry too much." Dean said. "They tend to question the motivation behind each and everything I do, say or think. Gets annoying after a while." He said with a shrug.

"They just love you, that's all. You're like me. You don't like to appear weak, or need help. So you try and hide how bad it is. So they pry. You used to come over when you thought I was sleeping and check me over for injuries. Even after I told you I was alright."

"You weren't sleeping?" Dean asked with a chuckle. "Thought I got pretty good at spiking your beer so you would. You hardly ever slept."

"Sleep was highly over rated. " He said then sighed looking at his son. "Nightmares." He admitted. "Could face the minions of hell, but a nightmare was just too much to ask."

"I know." Dean said. "You used to twitch." He said. He'd spent his childhood watching his father and his brother sleep.

"And now Sam is staying awake nights watching you twitch." John pointed out as he dished up two plates piled with pancakes and sausages.

"No he's not." Dean said. "I have a lock on my door." But he wasn't denying that he might 'twitch.' He had enough memory to constitute a whole chockload of horrifying nightmares.

John laughed as he sat down at the table. "Well, okay, maybe not literally but he is still hovering " He grabbed the butter and syrup and took a seat. "This whole having an apartment thing is taking some getting used to."

"Believe me, I know he's hovering. So's Harry. So are you for that matter." Dean said with a chuckle as he covered his pancakes and his sausage with maple syrup. "Don't worry, I have faith that all of you will discover life beyond me."

John shook his head. "So how are things going over at the mansion?" He asked, still not liking his boy there alone with the likes of Justin Morningway.

"They're fine." Dean said. "Using the opportunity to catch up on the paying job,what with me being grounded and all. Not exactly sure what Justin is up to, but haven't seen anything too off."

"You won't either. He is a lot of things, but a fool isn't one of them. " John said, he frowned. "I know.. he raised you, and you love him. I suppose I would be disappointed in you if you didn't under the circumstances but, You gotta understand that there is no way I can accept him after he took you two from me. Would you really want me to let it all go that easily?"

Dean sighed and shrugged. "I know, I get it. I do." Dean said. "I'm just a...fixer...I guess. Or something like that. I'll deal."

"I know. I don't want you to hate him, even though it might feel a little less like failure on my part if you did. " He smiled a little. "I worry about Sam though. Is he getting in over his head with this council thing?"

"Not happy about that." Dean said. "I don't know. I hope not. Only so much I can do." As much as it pained him, physically, to admit that. But he was not allowed in the council chambers.

"We'll need to keep our eyes on him. Harry at least knows what he is looking for when it comes to magical interference. I wouldn't have the first clue about most of it. The way your mother talked about it..." He frowned again and took a long drink of his coffee.

"What do you mean?" Dean asked. He was missing a whole chunk of his mother's life. From when she left Chicago until she died. He had a few brief memories of his own he clung to, but that was about it. The rest was mainly stories from Justin.

"Your mother hated this life, Dean. It's why you never knew that side of your family. Not even before your mother's death. She blamed the council for her sister's death... " It was still hard to talk about Mary. Even after all these years.

"So does Justin." Dean said with a shrug as he ate. "I think that's half the reason for his little take over the council idea."

"I'd like to find out more information on that... " In part because if the council were trafficking with demons, then it was possible that they had something to do with what happened to Mary and Sam, and eventually Jessica. In part because now his son was directly involved with them.

"Hopefully Sam can find something out about that." Dean said. "It's a sore subject with Harry, and Justin too for that matter." Dean believed that Justin really did adore his two sisters.

John nodded. "Yeah. Might shed some light on things for Harry as well, although my concern is more that this Morningway fixation they have will extend to Winchesters." Or that it already had. 

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Dean said. "And then of course proceed to completely torch the hell out of the thing."

John smiled a little at that. "That we will." He would talk to Sam about it later, although he would leave out his suspicions about Mary and Jess and the council's involvement in their deaths. Sam was able to keep his world something resembling normal right then. He didn't want to upset that apple cart and send his son down the same path he himself had gone on.

"All right." Dean said. "Sam's doing okay. Think it helps him to be 'productive' or whatever. And people say I can't sit still."

"You never could." John said. "You were squirming around from about three months into the pregnancy. Your mother thought for sure you were twins."

Dean laughed. "Could you imagine two of me?" He said with a grin. "That would have been...hey, I could have had an evil twin. Or maybe I'd be the evil twin."

"You both would have been evil and ganged up on Sam mercilessly." John said with a faint chuckle.

"And driven you gray. Coulda been fun." Dean said with a smile. "Oh well, the world's probably better off with just one of me come to think of it. So what was Sam like?"

"The pregnancy was harder. Your mother was going into the doctor's office every couple weeks. Always on some medicine or supplement. We were so relieved when he was born and everything turned out to be normal."

"So do you think you two would have had more?" Dean asked, ever curious about his mother. "Even with Mom having a hard time with Sam? Or was two what you decided on in the first place?"

"We would have tried again. Wanted to try for a daughter." He said with a faint smile. "Your mother... she loved being a mother... loved you boys so much."

"I know, I remember that part." Dean said. "Dad...I kn ow it's hard, and you've never talked about her before...but Sam and I? We don't have your memories. Sam doesn't have any. We've picked Uncle Justin's brain a lot. We're going to pick yours." It was even more poignant, Dean was nearly the age Mary was when she died.

John nodded. "It's a little easier than it used to be." He admitted. "When your mother died, so did I. Figuratively anyway. I kept wondering what I had missed, how I could have been sleeping in front of the tv while it was happening and not hear a thing? I couldn't help but feel that I should have done something or known something... "

As much as Dean wanted to know about his mother, the last thing he wanted to delve into was THAT NIGHT. A flash of pain and guilt ran across his own face, the guilt lingering in his green eyes. "Wasn't your fault, Dad." Dean said. "It really wasn't. You can't blame yourself."

"No one else to blame, Son. At least not until I find out who and why. Demons don't just materialize in nurseries and kill people with out a plan. Or a reason. "

"Dad..." Dean said and nearly spilled. For the first time (sober). Then chickened out. "Still some coffee left?"

"Yeah, bring the pot over, why don't you?" He suggested, looking at his half empty cup as well.

"Sure." Dean said as he brought the pot over and warmed up both their cups. "So Justin isn't being helpful. He's stonewalling me with my 'recovery' and such."

"Or he is having to rethink what to do. Before he was planning to use the sepulcher as leverage I am sure. Now he doesn't have it and doesn't know where it is."

"And that's not changing." Dean said. "He won't know where it is until it comes time to destroy them all. So any news on the yellow eyed demon front?"

"Nothing since Jessica's death." John said. "A couple ideas on how to track it but, it always puts me two steps behind instead of a step in front."

"Well, two steps behind gives us a chance to see a pattern to get in front of it." Dean pointed out. "This demon can't be stupid, not if it's been around for so long."

John nodded and began to detail the patterns he had found, the storms, the fires, centering around children on their six month birthdays.

"Okay, so we've got the storms, the fires...let's look at the storms. If we map them out maybe, then I can have someone in my tech division hack into the vital statistics, narrow down those with six month birthdays..." Dean suggested.

"Sounds like a plan." He said with a nod. "Certainly beats the hell out of hanging out in the hall of records after the fact."

"Welcome to the 21st century, Dad." Dean said with a smirk. "It's really not that bad a place to be."

"Yeah well the 21st century and I are on passing terms since I live on the road and hunt things down that people haven't believed in since the 19th century."

"And the internet is a wonderful tool. If it's out there, you can find info on it with a click of a button. Contact your sources all at once...I'm telling you, it's the wave of the future. And you still get to get your hands really grimy dirty too." Dean said. Made his life easier, computers and internet and such.

John laughed a little. "We'll see. Can't justify ripping someone off for the price of a lap top to take with me these days." The apartment was Sam's, really, but he knew that the kid had bought it for him. He wasn't sure how to deal with that yet. So he still called it Sam's place.

"If you want a lap top, I can get you a lap top." Dean said. "Two weeks ago, I sharked some idiot for three grand at poker. That's a nice lap top."

"Why the hell are you sharking poker? It's not like you need the money." John said, shaking his head. "You do know you get a huge paycheck being CEO, right?"

"It's not about the money. It's about the fun, and the adrenaline rush." Dean said with a shrug. "That's why I shark pool and darts too. It's fun. You've never gotten a thrill out of it? Not once?"

John laughed. "Not in a number of years. That's just money. For me anyway. I get enough excitement doing the job. At my age you don't want too much excitement."

Dean grinned. "I suppose there's that." Dean said. "Luckily for me, I'm good to go in that department. More excitement the better."

John shook his head. "Excitement can seriously be overrated, be careful which kind you go after." 


	15. Chapter 15

Authors' Note: I know, it's been a while. And this chapter might seem like a long exposition, but we're planting seeds and more seeds!

Sam looked over at his brother. "Are you sure you are up for this?" He asked as they entered Harry's loft. Bianca had agreed to meet them there since it was neutral territory and they both trusted Harry to do what was needed no matter what Dean's reaction was, without taking it too far.

Dean took a deep breath. "Sure." He said. And cracked a random knuckle. "Not like anything's going to happen to me, right? I mean, she wouldn't. And I wouldn't. And you two wouldn't let. So, no problem."

"Okay." Sam said. He was worried about how his brother would react. He was relieved to test those waters in private. With someone he trusted. "I just get to be protective too, ya know. "

"Sam, I'm fine. If I'm not fine, I'll go check on the car." Dean said. "That's the cue to get Bianca out some exit and call me on my cell. No need to be over protective."

"I wouldn't go that far, but yeah it's a good cue. Hopefully things will go well. I want you and Harry there when I talk to her about the council's latest ideas that I am supposed to present to her, but first things first."

Dean laughed. "Yeah, we get to see if I throw my self at her feet and beg her to bite me." It sounded ridiculous as he entered Harry's loft with Sam and flopped down on a couch. "Harry, you got any food?"

"Of course." Harry said as he sat down as well. "Or I will when the pizza arrives." He added. It had been a good week. He could afford pizza.

Mouse sniffed at Dean's pant legs, smelling more than one dog on him now. He put his massive paws up on his legs and looked Dean in the eye, and gave a low rumbling "woof."

Dean stared right back at Mouse and growled low in his throat until Mouse got down and meandered off to find his own food. "There, that's settled." He said with a chuckle. "Pizza sounds good. So how's Bianca going to take this offer? You...know...her better than us."

"She isn't going to go for it. She isn't a fool. Fortunately she isn't going to take it out on Sam" He said with a chuckle. "The council says partnership, and that means they want to pull the vampires completely under their umbrella... taking away all control from Bianca. "

"No wonder they wanted to be so vague with me. I figured that's what it meant. They don't share power in their own circle, why would they do it externally?" Sam said.

"Well, far be it from me from trying to talk Bianca out of kicking their asses." Dean said with a laugh as he grabbed a beer from the fridge.

"Yeah, well, we need that to wait until it's time." Sam said. "Back up since we can't trust our own team entirely."

"And that is so incredibly sad." Dean said. Not the idea that they didn't trust Justin. The idea that you couldn't trust family. "Okay, so when's she supposed to be here? And is she going to wear something trampy? Because every time she does that I have a hard time concentrating on the conversation."

"I don't think she owns anything else. She'll be here in a few minutes. Sometimes dinner takes a little longer than expected for her." Harry said with a smile. Bianca had willing meal partners. He personally thought it was a little weird but what the hell. It wasn't his neck.

"Hey, better them than me." Dean said. Though he could understand the allure. It wasn't the being bit part. It was right before. The pizza came and he got up and got it, using the money Harry had left by the door. "Okay, here we go."

"That smells good." Sam said as he joined them. "So how are the puppies doing?" He asked grabbing a piece as soon as the box hit the table.

"Awesome." Dean said. "Max has them moving onto papers right now." Because if anyone asked Dean, Max was doing all the training. "Until they're a little bigger then we'll get them outside. Why? Asking for visitation? I'm about to get kicked out of my own bed you realize."

"And why is that?" Harry asked with a grin, then looked up as a knock came at the door. He could tell by the silhouette that it was Bianca. He took a deep breath, looked at Dean a moment then went to let her in.

Dean nodded and sat back with his beer. He'd stare at the ceiling if he had to. "I'm good." He said. "And I'm about to get kicked out because I've got three dogs now that say they get the middle of the bed."

"Yeah... but it's a king sized bed, Dean. There should be plenty of room around the three of them to fit yourself on the bed." Sam said. "We shared a double with Dad and he didn't wind up on the floor and we were bigger than Max and two tiny puppies."

"Now there's an image." Bianca said as she sat down in a chair Harry cleared off for her and crossed her legs, one entire leg revealed through the slit of her dress. But without that sky high slit, she wouldn't have been able to walk.

"Wow." Dean said. "You need some new images then." He said, with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I don't think John would appreciate the image she got in her head." Harry said, knowing Bianca well.

"Dad's a little of a prude that way. Or would that be a racist - " Sam asked. "How have you been Bianca?"

"I've been good. Business is great, the council is leaving me alone for the moment. But somehow I always expect that to change." Bianca said with a smile. "Like why I was called here. I'm not sure it had a whole lot to do with seeing how Dean reacts to vampires now after his incident."

"Incident?" Dean said with a chuckle. "I like that. Nice easy way to put it. Incident."

"Sounds more polite than abduction and torture." Harry said with a shrug, grinning a little.

"Oh they are up to their tricks alright." Sam said. "Even though technically that they includes me now." He rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't accept the offer if I were you, this isn't something I was even approving of, especially since I know what it means. They are offering a partnership, but weren't willing to give me details until you accepted or declined. "

"The same council that tried to endorse a coup on me?" Bianca asked, amused. "Of course I'm not going to accept. And I look forward to ripping most of their throats out, to tell the truth. I like my position very much. So this is my formal declination of any sort of 'partnership' offer."

"I shall pass on your refusal." Sam said with a grin. Not that he had tried to talk her into it in the slightest. He was more ethical than that. "How have you been?"

"I've been good." Bianca said. "Right now it's a nice quiet time. Never lasts, but I love it when it's nice and quiet." Her would be usurpers were taken care of, after all. Right now, no one else would dare.

"You said the q word." Dean said with a laugh. "Now you're asking for trouble." This was a lot easier than he thought it would be. He guessed it wasn't really like a drug addiction. He was fine.

"Thought by coming here I found all sorts of trouble?" She said with a smile.

"There's trouble, then there is trouble." Harry pointed out. "So is this the way things normally go? Someone addicted to vampire's... kiss... for lack of a polite term... are they usually immune during casual conversation? Or does it only kick in with actual contact?"

Bianca smiled and got up, sitting next to Dean, who looked at her warily. And Dean jumped up when Bianca caressed the side of his face.

"Actual contact." Dean said with a clearing of his throat. It was like electricity.

"Any more questions?" Bianca asked serenely.

"Yeah... how do we block it... cure it... what ever it takes to keep it from happening cause... you guys aren't the only vamps out there and even some of your own people might find it advantageous one of these days...if the council decides to solve that whole hunter problem. They still have connections I am sure with others." Sam pointed out.

"My kind tend to like to keep our humans addicted. Makes things easier for us." Bianca said. "But I can see how that could be a problem for you." She said as she opened her purse and rifled through the small handbag. "I expected this question, so I already asked around. From the moment you took him to the hospital actually." She said to Sam as she handed an index card to Harry. "This is in your realm." She said, as it was a potion.

Dean looked at it, reading the ingredients. "Dude, every day? I have to drink that every day?"

"Looks like it." Harry said as he studied the potion, nodding. "It's an easy potion, not hugely expensive, not exactly gonna taste good. But it's gonna be tastier and easier to deal with over all than vampire repellant or cross tattoos all over your body."

"Dude, if I get one tattoo never mind all over, both Dad and Uncle Justin will call a truce to kick my ass." Dean said with a laugh. Not that he would get a tattoo. Wasn't his thing.

"Then a daily dose of addiction be gone is the way to go." Sam said. "Thanks Bianca, I really appreciate it." There were so many ways that Dean could be used to get at Sam, by the council and because he was on the council, that Sam was more than relieved to see one of those ways go away.

"Yeah, well, you're not the one who has to drink it." Dean said.

Bianca raised a perfectly arched eyebrow. "Want me to kiss you and remind you why it's such a good thing to drink it?"

Sam looked at Harry a moment, a lump appearing in his throat, then sinking to the pit of his stomach. But he knew that it was probably one of the few ways to convince Dean.

Dean looked at Bianca and then he laughed. "No thanks, I remember. Got it, I'll drink it every day." He said and looked at Sam and Harry. "Dudes, you thought I was stupid enough to fall for that one? Thanks."

"Stupid isn't the word. Stubborn, too damned fool convinced you have to be fine even when you aren't, refusing to take every other medicine prescribed for you has something to do with our perception as well." Sam said.

"If I'm hurting bad, I'll take the pain medication." Dean said with a shrug. "Not my fault my pain tolerance is higher than yours."

Bianca chuckled. "I think this is where I leave, before I get the urge to bring yet another arrogant man down to his knees."

Sam chuckled softly. He thought even an addicted Dean might give her a run for her money. "Thank you again, Bianca. I'll keep you informed of how things go with the council and when we make our move."

"Appreciated." Bianca said as she stood up. "I'll let you know if I hear anything." She said as she left. Dean grabbed another slice of pizza.

"Okay, that went well. But the council is going to be pissed you didn't talk her into accepting their deal." He said.

"Yeah well the council can deal." Sam said with a shrug. He wasn't going to do anything contrary to his own ethics, no matter how pissed they got.

"True." Dean said. "It'll be interesting to watch. Speaking of interesting, Harry, you'll be relieved to know that Dad was a perfect gentleman last night. I stopped by early this morning, and she wasn't there."

"Yeah I know. I called her this morning under the premise of looking for work. But she didn't buy it." He said as he started to walk toward his lab. "Hey Bob, we got a lot of potion to make. Are you familiar with this one at all?" You never knew with Bob. The man was a magical genius. He could just about improve upon anything in Harry's opinion. Potion wise anyway.

"Dude, you checked up on her?" Dean said with a laugh. "That's funny. Nearly cute too."

Bob appeared and looked at the card. "I'd forgotten about that one." He'd forgotten more about magic than some people ever learned. "That one will work. And I'll get great joy out of watching Dean choke it down every morning."

"Can I mix it with beer?" Dean asked, shaking his head.

"You could." Bob said. "Of course it might turn you green in more ways than one at that point. But by all means, be my guest."

Dean scowled. "Wonderful." Dean said with a sigh. "Thistle be fun. If it's that bad, how do you know it won't come right back up and be useless?"

"It's magical." Harry said. "Once it's down, it does what it needs to do, doesn't matter if it comes back up. But hey, for all we know it tastes like strawberries." He pointed out, with a grin.

"Dude, do you know how ridiculous that sounds? I used to get Sam to eat his vegetables by telling him they were magic vegetables." Dean said with a laugh.

"The difference being... Harry isn't lying." Sam said, remembering those days clearly. "I never believed you... truly magic veggies would have made me your age and able to go looking for Dad, or have brought him home. So obviously they weren't magic. But you seemed to think they were." He laughed. "So I didn't argue."

"Dude, I would have said anything to get you to eat them." Dean said. "And hey, it worked, you ate them, we were all happy." He said, neglecting to point out that he was eight, nine or ten at the time.

"Yeah well I think you should have eaten more of them yourself. After all... you're the one that came out a little on the short side." Sam teased.

"Dude! I'm 6'1"! That's not short." Dean said with a laugh. "Just because I'm not freakishly tall doesn't mean I'm short."

"Dude, the ghost is taller than you are." Sam said and Harry laughed, running a hand through his receding hair line. Dean was the shortest of the men in the family, even the extended family like John and Bob.

"Bob doesn't count. He floats, adding inches. He looks you in the eye and I guarantee you in life he wasn't that tall." Dean pointed out.

"Actually, in my day I was considered quite tall." Bob said.

"Yeah, your day was when men hovered around 5'6" or so, right?" Dean pointed out.

"I will have you know I was 6' tall at the time of my demise. That isn't even short in this day and age. Unless of course one is dwarfed by ones younger brother." He added with a faint smirk.

"When did this become pick on Dean day?" Dean said with a laugh. "At least I have all of my hair. Unlike some people."

"Yeah... that's good...pick on the guy that has to make your potion." Harry teased. "See if I ever agree to take any of that dirty money off of your hands with talk like that." He said as he started for the lab once more.

"Actually male pattern baldness is determined by the mother's father." Bob spoke up helpfully. "And seeing as you all share a common maternal grandfather...I'd say that's your future. Even if it hasn't kicked in yet."

Sam began to laugh then. Yes he was fond of his thick almost long hair, but he also knew that of the two of them, deep down inside Dean was the most vain. Hair loss would interfere with the picking up of stray random girls after all. "I think you have been saving that one up since the year you were stuck teaching Dean."

"Actually, I have." Bob said with a grin.

"Well, if you think I'm going to run off to the bathroom to check my hair, you're wrong." Dean said as he ate his pizza. "I've got a while before I reach that state, I figure. If I ever do. I mean, I'm the freak of the family. Could bypass me entirely, like that whole magic thing from the maternal line." He pointed out.

"Or you could wind up looking like Justin." Sam said with a shrug. "Who knows?" He found it amusing. Things would happen as they happened. No amount of worry would change whether or not they would go bald. Too bad they wouldn't be taking after the paternal side of the family though. John still had a full head of hair in his 50s.

"Got too much of Dad in me for that to happen." Dean said with a shrug. "SO how bad is this potion going to be?" He asked Harry, who was making it.

"Well it's not going to be too bad as far as potions go. On a potions scale of one to ten, this is a four. Of course that puts it at about a 2 on the icky medicine scale and negative 5 on the scale of normal tastes."

"Nice." Dean said with a grimace. He was a guy who would eat just about anything. So for it to be icky for him, that said a lot. "Don't suppose I can get all of you to take a shot with me, for moral support and all."

"Never took you for the misery loves company sort." Harry teased. "Don't know that it's a good idea for someone not addicted to take it. Who knows what the reaction would be?"

"Fine." Dean said. "Complete killjoy. Did you go to school to learn that special talent or is it just natural?"

"Runs in the family." He said. "Well this needs to brew for a few hours, and I think we still have pizza and beer out there."

"Go a head, I'll keep an eye on this." Bob said melodramatically. "Enjoy your booze and bad food. I'll be fine."

"Thanks, Bob. You're a pal." Dean said with a laugh.

Sam laughed at the look on Bob's face and headed back out into the living room. "Well this takes one more obstacle out of our path."

"Oh yeah. Harry has a roommate that won't hog the beer." Dean said, though he knew what Sam was referring to as he grabbed another beer. "So what's on the agenda for the rest of the day? I mean, Bianca shot the council down cold in three point five seconds."

"I'll go meet with Merlin and Mai later on, after lunch and break the news to them. After that.. don't know. Anything you have in mind other than feeding puppies?"

"While you're doing that I'm going for a run." Dean said. "Don't give me that look, I'm dying inside from being pent up all the time like a death row inmate."

"Yeah well, don't over do it. " Sam said with a slight frown. It was probably safe for Dean to start training again, but he was still leery.

"Who? Me?" Dean asked with a smirk. "You're obviously all confused. All that fluffy hair suffocating brain cells."

"Please, I'm not the one that's confused. It's standard operational procedure with you, Dean. You have to go out and hurt yourself again at least once every time you are seriously injured."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I 'm just going to go for a refreshing jog and check out some reports I got from the West End. Some poltergeist activity, easy as pie." Dean said, letting the last part slip because sometimes it was fun to watch that vein in Sam's forehead dance.

"Take Dad with you. He looked like he was ready to bolt for open air this morning. I think he is having hunt withdrawals." Sam said, pretending that it didn't bother him that Dean was already looking for another hunt.

No dancing vein. Dean was disappointed. "Sounds good. At the very least I can tease him about Murphy the entire time. That alone is worth whatever bruises I get."

"You tease him about Murphy and the bruises you get might not come from the poltergeist. Dad seems to really like her."

"All the more reason to tease him. I really liked Alyssa Johnson you know." Dean said with a laugh. Alyssa Johnson, his first "girlfriend." He'd been eight, she was seven, and she had been in his recess period in gym class. That didn't stop his father from mercilessly teasing him about his 'first girlfriend,' now did it?

"Who?" Sam asked. He had only been four at the time and missed out on the intricate details of Dean's elementary school romances. He shook his head. "Dude, I still say it's an at your own risk proposition."

"Come on, if it's the most dangerous thing I do today, then today is a good day, right?" Dean said with a smirk. "Have fun with your brews and councils."

"Yeah... that'll happen." Sam said with a chuckle. "I swear they are still living in the dark ages."

Dean laughed. "You know, you're right." He said. "But right now you gotta play their game." Was he comfortable throwing his brother into the lion's den? Hardly. Did he have a choice? No.

"Yeah I know. No one said I had to play by their rules though. I'm half Morningway after all... don't we have some sort of reputation about that... not playing by the rules?" Sam asked as he got ready to leave.

"You're doubly screwed then, because the other half of you is Winchester, and that side has much the same reputation." Dean said with a laugh.

"Well that would certainly explain a lot." Harry said with a laugh. "Check in when you are done." He added, knowing how the council could be. And right then Harry didn't know if they wanted to kiss Morningway ass or chew it up and spit it out. It wavered a lot over the years.

"He will." Dean said as he grabbed his own jacket. "Because he knows if he doesn't I'll storm the council chambers way far ahead of time, which is a problem I guess."

"I'll be fine." Sam said rolling his eyes. "I'll talk to you two later." He closed the door behind him and took a deep breath before continuing over to his car and heading for the council chambers.

The Merlin took one look at Sam as he walked through the doors. "You failed." He said flatly. "One task, the first task, and you couldn't do it. It's not very confidence inspiring."

"Did you really expect me to be a lap dog?" Sam asked as he took a seat, no longer feeling the need to stand in their presence. He wasn't their equal but he was a member of the council, not some apprentice. "I told her of your offer, she implied that she knew what partnership with the council meant, and that it was a gracious but unfortunate offer that at this time she can't accept." He said with a shrug.

"More like an emissary." Mei said smoothly. "Your job was to make her the offer, and convince her to accept it. Where do your loyalties lie? With the council or with Red Court?"

"My duty may be with the council... which I fulfilled by delivering your offer. Loyalty? That is earned and generally the real thing goes both ways. You sent me out there with no information, simply an offer, and that is what I made. With all the allure that you conveyed to me. The fact that you were setting me up to be your scape goat, to lure her in by making the offer sound sweet, then you could deny anything that was said because you didn't say it yourselves. Which would put me in a very bad position with the Red Court, possibly deadly which would not only get the last Morningway allowed a council seat out of your hair but set Dad and Dean against them and remove Bianca from the equation as your last attempt at that failed, You come out on top either way... I'm either a failure or dead either way. You want to run that loyalty thing by me again?"

"Are you accusing us of something?" Mei asked. "You need to watch your words. Accusations aren't something to made lightly, or without nice hard evidence to back them up. Otherwise, there are consequences."

"I am seeing two and two... which comes to four... and until you give me more to go on... that's all I can see..." He frowned then, intentionally thoughtful. "Unless you two honestly have no idea what's been going on."

"Sam," Ancient Mei said, sitting back with a thoroughly maternal look on her face, "you are so young. You have much to learn. You should keep that in mind."

"I've gone from total immersion hunter lifestyle to being raised as a Morningway. As a hunter, someone causing a civil war amongst the Red Court seems like a good way to eliminate half the vampire population, though gotta say my money would be on Bianca coming out on top. As a Morningway I can see the political advantages... of the sneaky underhanded variety anyway. " Sam said. "Luther was very confused when I showed up. You see he figured he had a free pass from the council to do what ever he wanted. Including kidnap and torture my brother. So if you two didn't give him that impression... someone else did. And believe me, he spilled that to Bianca before going down... so, if you want Bianca to come around to your plans... you have to give her some reason to think it wasn't you. Unfortunately being the heads of the council, it comes down to your responsibility no matter what. " He said. "Yeah... I'm young, and I have no clue how the council functions. I have a lot to learn there, but you guys are so out of touch with what's out there, that it's going to bite you in the ass one day... "

Merlin and Mei exchanged a look. "Thank you for your attempt to sway Bianca." Mei said neutrally. "If you have any other information to present, it would be appreciated."

Sam looked at both of them, locking gazes with Merlin for a moment before looking at Mei once more. "No... nothing else. " He said, sensing he was being dismissed. He rose to his feet. "If you will excuse me." He added before turning to leave.

TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA

Dean arrived at where his father was staying. It was either John's place or Sam's place, depending on who was doing the answering, so Dean just stopped asking. He had enough confusing things in his life.

He gave the knock and headed in. "Hey Dad." Dean called out, going for the coffee. "Was thinking we could do a nice easy hunt, you should be able to keep up."

"What kind of hunt?" John asked. He was itching to get back to work, but knew that his son needed to keep things a little low key for a while after his encounter. "How did the meeting go with Bianca?"

"Oh it was great." Dean said. "She turned Sam down flat, then gave Harry an antidote, calling them even. And it's just a poltergeist. I just gotta do something. Any more time just lounging around and I'm bound to go psycho on someone."

John chuckled. "I can identify." He said. "Sam is bound to be pleased she turned him down. Just hope the council isn't as foolish as they have been acting lately. We aren't ready to go up against them. Got Singer working on ways to counter act their magic without screwing Sam out of his."

"If anyone can come up with it, it's Bobby." Dean said. He had great respect for the hunter, Bobby Singer was a helluva lot smarter than he wanted people to believe.

John nodded with a smirk. "Yeah, then he wonders why everyone comes to him for help with shit like this." He chuckled. "He really needs to work on his redneck act more."

"Nah, he likes being needed." Dean said. He remembered spending weeks at Singer's Salvage Yard while his dad finished up odds and ends from different jobs. He had liked it there, actually. "Okay, so you up to taking on a ghost, or did thoughts of Murph make you give up beauty sleep?"

"No, thoughts of Murphy were taken care of with a phone call. " He said with a chuckle. "Can't say I am surprised Justin didn't teach you the finer points of dating. Guess hunting isn't the only thing I still have to teach you a thing or two about." He pulled on his coat. "So what's the background with this particular ghost?"

"Don't even start, old man." Dean said with a chuckle. "I did the finer points of dating and courting, just did it with the wrong girl, backfired big time, and really not up to trying it again. And hunting? I got that covered. Like the ghost. Old woman died, found three weeks later, she still thinks the house is hers."

"Yeah, well don't make the mistake I did and wait too long." John said. "So where's the body? Or is this not a salt and burn?"

"Not a salt and burn. I expect to get thrown around a bit. Like I said, good times." Dean said with a grin, tossing him a bag filled with ritual supplies.

John chuckled. "Alright then. Sounds like it's gonna be a lortab and a six pack night."

"I was aiming more toward a Percocet and Cuervo night." Dean said with a grin. "Come on, I've behaved for, like, a week. That's a new record. I deserve a reward."

John thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, you should be up for it. " He said. "Although I should probably be worried that you think being pounded badly enough to need tequila and percs is a reward."

"Before all this, I was joking to Sam, waiting for you to try bribing my affection from Justin with promises of devil's gates and hell houses." Dean said with a laugh. "He's worried too. You two just worry too much."

"Well if that's all it takes." John said with a laugh of his own. "Seriously though... I'm not gonna buy your affection. Or bribe it away from anyone else. It's either there or it isn't. However if it's hell houses and Devil's gates you want,... I think a father son vacation might be in order once this whole thing with the sepulchers is over."

Dean laughed. "Count me in. If your social calendar can fit in it." Dean teased as they headed out to the car.

"I think I can work you in." John said with a laugh as he let Mutt into the back of the Impala then got into the passenger side.

"Oh, well, thank you." Dean said with a chuckle as he headed across the city to the house. It took a couple of hours, and a lot of bruises, but the old woman was finally convinced to leave and go onto the after life. He'd be feeling it in the morning, but right now, he felt great. Not the normal bonding experience, sure, but a whole lot more satisfying than fishing.

"Come on... I'll buy dinner, and not at one of those places that can't use electricity either." John offered. He had felt like he was living in the Victorian era with all the places he had gone with the boys of late.

"Now that sounds good." Dean said. "Nice thick steak, cold beer." He said with a grin. "If nothing else, electricity is good." Sometimes it was a hassle finding places where Sam and Harry could go. For this moment, right now, he didn't have to worry about that.

"Who is on puppy nanny duty? Or are they eating real food now?" John asked as they went back to the condo to clean up and drop off a highly disappointed Mutt.

"The nurse." Dean said with a laugh. "Who might think I'm still taking a shower, actually. She's not very bright, but she can follow Maxie's instructions easily enough."

"That's harsh." John said. "Take it you and the nurse are barely on speaking terms."

"Dad, she tries to drug my food. Once, she tried to tuck me in. Literally. By wrapping the blankets around me so I couldn't move." Dean said with a scowl. "And she's really not anywheres near hot enough for that. Bad terms? I can't wait until I convince Justin to get rid of her." Since Justin was paying her out of a slush account he'd set up years ago and hidden it under advertising costs.

"You can always bring the dogs over to our place and hang out for a few days. He'll get the hint eventually." John suggested.

Dean chuckled. "The thought's crossed my mind. A lot. But I'm stuck at the house watching over Justin's shoulder, remember?" He said. Not that he was happy about the idea. Even the thought of Justin's resurrection made him uncomfortable. That was a powerful magic he wasn't comfortable around, to say the least.

"He can't do anything with out that last sepulcher. You don't have to stay. You can get out for a couple of days." John said. He worried about Dean being there. It set his teeth on edge every time he thought about it.

"Dad, I'm fine. Really." Dean said, stopping just short of reminding his father that he was an adult and could take care of himself. Sam and Harry didn't buy that logic, his dad certainly wouldn't. "But a few days away from Nurse Ratchet would be good."

"Just tell him you are bringing the pups over to wake up Sam for a change. Maybe hint that Nurse Ratchet is giving you hives."

Dean laughed. "Not like I have to ask his permission or anything." Dean pointed out. "The guy already threatened to send me back to the hospital, I pointed out that he really doesn't have a leg to stand on there. He was quiet about that afterward."

"Well... at least he cares about your health." John said, trying to sooth his own ruffled feathers. "Still half tempted to have him charged with kidnapping you know. If he comes out of his hole, I just might."

"Sure. Sounds good. Except then he'd probably drag out a whole lot of not so legal stuff you've done over the years, and then it could get messy." Dean pointed out. "So maybe we should pass on that. Not saying he's in the right. It was definitely wrong. But I see this going all kinds of wrong for you is all."

"The difference being I've covered my tracks over the years. He had to lie about my death to adopt you. Not saying it's the best option, but if he pulls anything to try and take back what he has given you... It'll happen."

"Dad, don't worry about it. If he does, he does." Dean said with a shrug. "The company isn't exactly the highlight of my life. It'll be okay if he decides to retcon that back. Don't worry about it."

John scowled a little as he locked the door leaving Mutt inside the condo. Then headed back to the car. "So steak and potatoes right? You haven't gotten into what ever it was Sam called food at that last restaurant we went to, are you?"

Dean laughed. "What do you consider 'into it'?" He asked with a grin. "If it's labeled as food, chances are very likely I'll eat it. Except snails. And sushi. Can't even stand the thought of it."

"Guess some things never change." John said with a laugh. "No matter the environment." He drove to the steak house he had plans to take Murphy to, and wanted to check it out first.

Dean laughed. "Are you using quality time with your eldest son to check out a future date location?" Dean asked. "Dude...that is so wrong."

"Always was one to multitask. Unless of course you know of a better, more relaxed steak house." John said with a laugh.

Dean shook his head. "This is so wrong." He teased. "But since you insisted, who am I to turn down food I'm pretty sure isn't drugged? You're not going to drug me, are you? Because that would be beyond hypocritical."

"Wouldn't dream of drugging you." John said as he parked the car. "If you need something, you know where to find it. Things haven't changed that much."

"Nope. Except for the fact that this is MY car now." Dean said with a smirk. "I was being nice." On letting John drive the Impala and all. Hey, they were old friends after all.

John laughed. "You know you are guilty of receiving stolen property, but what the hell." He teased.

Dean laughed. "No way. You always said I'd get her when I got my license. And I did. Believe me, Justin wanted me in something else." Dean said. Like a Lexus or at least a Buick. Dean stuck his ground on that one.

"Well when you put it like that." John answered with a grin. He led the way inside, glad that he didn't have to wear a tie to be there. He hated ties. Always had. Nothing more than a way for someone to grab hold of you and strangle you. If the tie itself didn't beat them to it.

They ordered their beers right away. Luckily none of the bruises were livid yet, and they'd washed the blood off. Dean, like his father, was a lot more comfortable in places like this. He could fake and bluff his way through the CEO life, but he didn't enjoy it at all. It was something he did to support his real life and his family.

John eased back in the seat and relaxed. It had felt good to get his feet wet again. He had stuck around initially because Dean was hurt, then there was the preparations for dealing with the sepulchers. But all the waiting and doing nothing had been driving him up a wall. No matter how much he was enjoying Murphy's company.

They ordered their food and just relaxed. Dean didn't realize it until he started to unwind, but it had been a long time since he'd last unwound. Sam was supposed to be the tightly wound one after all. "So, this demon. Why does it want Sam?" Dean asked point blank, while his mind was on Sam.

John didn't know how to answer that one. "A lot of possibilities, none of them concrete." He said with a sigh. "There are others around the country... kids who survived a nursery fire on their 6 month birthdays... with all the other omens in place at the time. So I don't think he is the only one."

"Great." Dean said. "Look, this whole sepulcher thing is all well and good, but this demon business has to be solved and buried. Because protecting Sam is my first priority. Above all others." He said. This was his dad. The one who had instilled that in him. So he felt comfortable enough to admit that.

"I know, son. I have some people working on finding out more about the mothers who died in the fires. I need to find out if there is a connection." Mary hadn't called out. She hadn't screamed or called his name. John wouldn't have known anything was going on if Sammy hadn't started crying. Why hadn't she called out for help?

"Then you don't know?" Dean asked. "Dad...when I was seventeen, I wanted to know more about Mom. I found all her old school friends, the doctor who delivered me and Sam, neighbors, people from your wedding party...Dad...they're all dead. You and Justin are all that's left of anyone who ever knew Mom."

John looked at his son in shock. "Your mother didn't call out that night. Never once called for help. I've had a theory that she might have known what was in there... was trying to protect us from it. Nothing else makes any sense."

Dean could have verified that easily. He remembered. She had recognized the demon. The one with the yellow eyes. Before his safe world was engulfed in flames, she had recognized him. But to verify that, he'd have to admit he was there, and he hadn't saved his mom. He couldn't do that, not to his dad. So he drank his beer instead and stayed silent on that. He'd drank half the bottle in one swig before putting it down.

"Nothing else does, I guess." He said. "So we're still on square one."

"Pretty much where I have been from the beginning." John said. "A few more details here and there, but nothing that would give me any clue what it all means."

Dean sighed and pondered his steak. "Okay, babies six months old. No real definite connection to Mom, or they'd be dead. I even went back to her school friends from grade school, they're all six feet under. Old yellow eyes is clearing everyone out one by one. Bet if we go back, to the mothers that also died, we'll find out that all their connections are dead. Or missing. As if they never existed at all."

John looked at his eldest son quizzically. "What did you call it?" He could have sworn he said ole yellow eyes. It was an odd thing to say.

"Huh?" Dean said. "That all the other dead mothers probably have no living connections anymore. Probably the living ones have very little connection to the outside world, if I were to guess. It's all a big pattern, right?"

"No... the part about yellow eyes." John said frowning in concern. "What are you not telling me, Dean?"

"What?" Dean said, looking panicked as his eyes danced around the room. "Nothing. You know, just forget it. Not important." He said hurriedly. "Really, it's not. So what do you think? I think Murphy will like this place."

"Dean... it's alright son... " He said, not missing the panic. "But I'm not going to let this drop."

"Yeah you are." Dean said. "Because it doesn't help with the search. And it doesn't help with figuring out how to kill it. All it does is stir up old issues that are best left buried. Trust me, you want to drop it." He liked hanging out with his father. He liked the camaraderie. He liked having a father period.

"Dean... " John said. "How do you know what color its eyes are?" He asked again. He didn't know what was going through his boy's mind. Didn't know the fear of loss and guilt that hung over his head.

Dean concentrated on his steak. "We need ketchup." He said. "They never give you enough ketchup, you ever notice that? It's ridiculous." He said as he got up and snagged another bottle from an unoccupied table. "Ketchup should be its own food group I think. You can put it on almost anything."

John stared at his son for a moment. "You saw it." He said softly, only barely able to imagine what it must have been like for a boy of 4, unable to truly articulate or understand what it was he had seen.

Dean looked at his father for a moment, his eyes filled with the guilt and fear that had been building for over twenty years. "I thought we were talking about ketchup." He said. He'd gotten his eyes, the variable green color, from his mother. And he could remember her eyes when she was pinned to the ceiling. "Ketchup is great."

"Dean, it's alright son." John said, worry in his eyes. "It's alright. My god, I should have realized. I am sorry. I am so sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Dean said as he attacked his steak again. "It was a long time ago." He said with a shrug. "I didn't really see anything."

"You saw enough that it's eating the hell out of you now." John said pointed out. "Dean... you were four years old. "

"Yeah, Dad, I know I was four years old." Dean said. "Believe me, I know. Nearly five actually. Closer to five than four. Old enough to get Sammy out of the house, at least. Least I did one thing right."

"Son, what is it you think you could have done? It's amazing that you were able to get Sammy out of the house at that age. I should have done that myself. Should have carried you both out of there. " He knew that then, but at the same time he hadn't been able to make himself leave her. He couldn't leave his Mary behind. It had been so hard to walk out those doors, to leave her there alone in the mouth of hell.

Dean shook his head. "I could have woken you up." Dean said. "Said there's a strange guy talking to Mom in Sam's room. Or kicked him in the shins. Or something." He was convinced of that. But instead he went back to his room like his mom told him too. Then when he had seen her on the ceiling, he ran back to his room and buried himself under all his blankets until he heard his father. And it had cost them all everything.

"Dean... you couldn't have stopped him. " John said firmly yet gently. "If the legends are true, this is a fallen angel... a creation of God turned wrong. These are creatures that turn entire cities to salt, or kill with a dirty look. You were a four year old child. A sheltered 4 year old at that point too."

"You don't know that. And neither do I." Dean said. And studied his food for a long time. He'd lost his appetite, waiting for the other shoe to fall. "Want a ride home or are you calling a taxi now?"

"What?" John asked in confusion. "Why the hell would I want a taxi home?" He looked at his son then realization dawned. "Dean... I don't blame you. Hell, you shouldn't blame you. You were a child, a very small child. 4 years old. I know I put too much responsibility on you growing up but Dean... even at almost 5 you couldn't be held responsible for that. You're not to blame, son. I swear to you... you are not to blame for what happened to your mother."

"Yeah, I am." Dean said. "And it's okay." Just one in a long line of things really, even if started the line. "I'm fine, I'm good. Really. But hey, if you don't want to blame me, I'm not going to convince you to. Saves me from telling Sam why our dad won't talk to me without telling him why our dad won't talk to me."

"Did you really think I would..." John sighed. "Son... have you looked at a 4 year old since you've grown up? I mean really looked at one of them? Do you remember Sammy at 4? Would you have expected Sam to stop a demon at 4?"

"Sam doesn't have to stop demons. That's what I'm around for." Dean said. "Look, I'm fine. I'm fine. So do I have to give you a crash course in safe sex or not?"

"Hardly." John said in answer to both. He was going to let it drop for now but this was something Dean needed to get out of his head. And fast. Not only for his own sanity but the fact that it was a weakness that the demon would love to sink his hooks into. "As you don't have any more little brothers or sisters I think I have figured that out on my own."

"Okay, a simple yes would have been enough. Didn't need to get all graphic on me." Dean said with a laugh. "Dude, seriously, for seven years you shared a hotel room with me and Sam. Not a good time for bookie."

"For seven years I couldn't think about another woman." John admitted. "After I lost you two... nothing really seemed to matter any more. I went numb. People that are numb do stupid things... like drinking themselves to death and sleeping with women picked up in bars just to feel a little warmth."

Dean wondered if he was numb. Sounded like his life, really. "So still drinking yourself to death?" He asked. "I mean, the woman thing, well, no arguments from me."

"No. I don't have as much to escape these days." John said. He still drank but nothing like he used to. The saddest part of it all was that he could honestly say he wasn't an alcoholic. He had walked away from drunkenness when he had been found by his boys. But it had been an insane desperate hope that it would take away the rest of his emotions, or better yet kill him and end the hunt at last.

"Oh. So no AA meetings? I heard there are hot chicks at AA meetings." Dean said. "Though I was going to crash a sex addicts meeting one time."

"No AA meetings. I don't need to get drunk. Don't need the alcohol at all. That wasn't what I was after when I was drinking. And it isn't crashing when maybe you should be attending."

"Ah, but you're only a real addict if you admit that you have a 'problem'. I don't have a problem. And I'd take great joy in accomplishing convincing the girls that they don't either." Dean joked with a grin. Letting the mood lighten off his guilt and self blame.

"Sam thinks you have a problem." He said. "Has he always been such a prude?" The boy was too young when John lost them for him to have seen any such pattern in his personality.

Dean laughed. "I think it's mostly for show. So he can make comments and remarks at me. He wasn't impressed with the Doublemint Twins, but he just might be a one woman at a time guy."

"I can understand that." John said. "Means it's going to be hard for him to get over this with Jessica. " He shook his head. He didn't understand why the demon had murdered Jessica. Just one more thing that didn't add up.

"Sam doesn't fully understand the difference between love and sex yet." Dean said. "That the two don't always go hand in hand. One day he will."

"Usually that leads to promiscuity while seeking out love, not avoiding contact. " John shook his head. "Who knew he would turn out so old fashioned?"

"Hey, one of us was bound to be." Dean said with a laugh. "Let's see. Pastor Jim. Upstanding citizen, completely. Even Bobby has a strong moral center. You were pretty specific on that whole right and wrong chivalrous stuff. And even Justin, though most of his actions are questionable legally, morally and ethically, he's pretty traditional."

"Yeah I suppose so. At least he raised you two that way. " Justin was the last person he would have expected to raise his boys right. But Mary hadn't trusted her brother any further than she could throw him, and that colored John's impressions of him.

"Well, he also had a lot of help." Dean pointed out. "Harry, Bob, all the tutors he hired to make sure I didn't drop out, me with Sammy. He wasn't as hands on as he likes for you to believe." It didn't really matter, Dean and Sam had each other, and Harry to fill any voids.

"Not that I have any room to talk, I suppose." John said with a sigh. He had gone over every moment with his boys in his head from the moment he had found they were missing. He knew every mistake he had made by heart.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Dad, we turned out fine. We're not serial killers, or psychopaths." He pointed out. "Nor are we complete lazy bums. So obviously BOTH you AND Justin did all right." He had to give Justin credit. His adolescence alone was enough to drive anyone insane.

Sure, Dean had a huge abandonment complex. And Sam still had the tendency to turn to Dean for decision making, nearly clinging at times. But no one was perfect.

John didn't argue, but the look in his eyes betrayed how he felt. His boys deserved better. Sometimes he wondered if Justin hadn't been right in assuming they would be better off with him, but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel that it had marked the boys somehow.

"Dad, we survived to adulthood. We're okay. Can we just not linger on the past and what was done, not done or should have been done? Because we can't change it." Dean said.

"Sounds like we both have a lot of that to work on." John said, taking another drink of his beer then called the waitress over and asked for a bourbon on the rocks.

"Yeah, well, it's a work in progress." Dean said with a sigh. He was carrying around a lot of things that he felt influenced the present. Like the fact that Sam didn't have a mom. Or the fact that John felt the need to drop them off somewhere he felt was safe enough because Dean failed with the shtriga. Or that both Sam and Harry were paranoid about Dean and magic because of his screw up with Melissa.

"I know." John said. "Me too." He thanked the waitress for the drink and leaned back in his seat. "One day at a time right?"

Dean laughed. "Dude, that so sounds like a twelve step program. Which is the stupidest motto ever. I mean, that's an option? One day at a time? I can live two days at a time? Cause that could be helpful sometimes."

"People don't live in today. Today is usually the last thing on a man's mind. It's always yesterday and tomorrow... and that gets to be too much sometimes."

Dean was pretty sure he was different. He lived firmly in today because of yesterday and the fear he wouldn't have a tomorrow anyway. Which led to dangerous, impulsive, incredibly stupid behavior on his part. So it might have been better if he had stayed trapped in the past in some ways.

"Well, however it goes, sometimes it's okay to have a little fun. You know, the job doesn't preclude that. We're allowed to have a little fun once in a while." He looked at their waitress as she passed trays to another table. "And that," he said with an impish grin as he gestured to her, "that is fun."

John laughed, allowing Dean to shift the conversation. It was harmless enough in the grand scheme of things. It saddened him a little because he was sure that neither of his boys would find what he had found with Mary, even if for only a short time. Sam and Jess hadn't had a chance to grow into each other. He didn't know if the boy would take the risk again.

TMATMAMTMATMATMATMATMATMATMATMA

Justin dressed in one of his three piece suits, normal attire for him, and headed to the club where he knew the council was dining for the evening. He wasn't invited, but he wasn't there to talk to them.

Morgan stopped in front of him and blocked his way, and Justin just leaned on his cane. "I'm not here for them, I'm here for you." He said calmly.

"We have nothing to discuss, Morningway. Unless you want to explain the use of forbidden magic to return you to life." He said raising an eyebrow.

"Obviously I couldn't be held responsible for that." Justin said, raising an eyebrow of his own above his glasses. "For I was quite dead until after the magic had run its course. No, I wanted to talk about one former fiancee of my nephew, Dean. See, I've picked his brain the last few weeks, subtly. Not all at once, of course. It's still a far too sensitive subject than is healthy. But I keep coming back to the same conclusion, no matter how many angles I get him to tell it from. No body. Are you quite certain you did your job, Morgan?"

"What are you getting at, Morningway? I always do my job." That job wasn't always what it appeared to be, but Morgan never did anything by halves.

Justin kept his face neutral. "Dean is in a delicate place right now. Now, I can't stop you from going after my magically gifted relatives, but the ones that aren't...they don't need to be on your radar. And anyone who interferes with Dean's healing from his recent events, well, they do interfere with me. And I have a nasty temper."

"I'm not interfering with Dean Winchester in any way." Morgan said, not even bothering to grace Justin's implied threat with a comment. "What exactly are you implying?"

"Implying? Fine, I'll say it. Melissa is not dead. And you either are covering up the fact you failed to kill her, or are behind her being alive in the first place." Justin said. "And that, my dear warden, is a violation of everything you hold dear. She's a black magic practitioner after all."

"So are you...and your nephew. Yet you both live and breathe." He said in return. "Perhaps I should question your gates as well as the young woman's."

"You'll have your chance at me." Justin said. "For if I meet this Melissa, it will not be pretty. Since she'd only be coming back to get another run at one of my nephews. And I will hold you responsible if something happens to them."

Again Morgan raised an eyebrow. "I would be careful, Morningway. You don't carry the weight you once did and I don't think your nephews are nearly so enamored of you as you pretend to be of them."

Justin laughed. "You don't know me, Morgan. You never did. You're not in a place to pass judgement on me of my feelings for my nephews. Either you failed at your job, or you're involved in a conspiracy. It's up to you which way that wind blows."

"Conspiracy is a Morningway speciality. Either imagining them or creating them. "

"So you would think people would be unwilling to conspire against us." Justin replied smoothly.

"They probably aren't conspiring against you. Is there anything else you needed to say, Morningway? Or are you through with your weak threats and innuendos?"

"It's not a threat, and it's not innuendo." Justin said. "It's a warning. That Melissa had better not show her face around my nephews." Dean had been through enough without that. But it explained why Justin couldn't break the spell, which he had been trying to do. If Melissa was truly dead, it would have been broken.

"If she does, then she is the preview of the wardens." He said simply. "Now if you will excuse me, I have work to do."

"If she does, the wardens will have proved themselves incompetent." Justin shot back. "Morgan, even in your black and white world, someday you will see I am not the bad guy." He said before walking away. "Not entirely."

"It's the not entirely that creates the trust issues. One day you will see beyond yourself enough to realize that." Morgan said as he turned to return to the council members.

Justin watched Morgan go. It was too bad, really, that the warden probably wouldn't be salvageable when this was all over. He would have made a wonderful ally.

tmatmatmatma

Sam entered the estate and sighed. It really was home, even if he didn't feel that he dared to trust Justin anymore. It felt good to be back within its walls.

He headed toward Dean's room where the puppies and Max were waiting and sat down on the bed waiting for his brother and petting the pups and Maxie.

Dean dropped his father off and headed back to the mansion to get a few things. "Hey Sam." Dean said, surprised. "How'd the council meeting go? Are they overjoyed with you?"

"It went... " He said, frowning. He didn't like the thoughts going through his head. Not one little bit. "They are... disappointed in me." That was the least of his concerns.

"Okay. What's up?" Dean said as he settled on the bed with Maxie. "You've got that deep thought look again."

"Ancient Mei... there was something odd about her... I threw the whole council involvement in the vampire civil war at them as reason for no partnership, she didn't seem surprised. Merlin on the other hand... had no idea. He didn't say anything, but the look crossed his features when it came out..."

"Interesting." Dean said. "Ancient Mei is trying to coup the whole council. Talk about ambitious. Could work in our favor, if we don't have to fight Merlin after all."

"Problem is... I think she has managed except for Merlin." Sam said with a frown. "And I don't know that he will listen when the time comes."

"Then we just go with the original idea that Merlin was in on it. Because we're not going to have time to waste on what ifs and should we's when the time comes." Dean pointed out. "So I'm gonna crash with Dad for a couple of days. Get away from Justin for a bit. Some one else's turn to watch him."

"Is that a hint?" Sam asked although he dreaded it. He wasn't sure he felt as warm and fuzzy about the man as Dean did. He also wasn't sure that he didn't, which made it a very complicated place for Sam to be.

"Absolutely. A hint to ask Harry. Cause I was figuring we'd have a Winchester night out and all. Wouldn't be so bad." Dean suggested.

"Harry... and Justin... are you wanting to redecorate or something?" Sam asked with a laugh. He smiled a little as one of the puppies chased his fingers around the surface of the bed.

"Or we can just leave Justin unsupervised. Not like we can watch him all the time. And a little alone time might give him the idea we trust him and all." Dean said. "Reverse psychology. Bet they didn't teach you that in school."

"Reverse psychology is when we tell you that you can't do something, knowing that it will make you want to do it more than anything in the world." Sam said. "What you are talking about is deception... but it could work."

"No, it's not deception. Deception would be spying when he thinks he's assured he's alone." Dean said. "It's reverse psychology. We let him think we trust him enough not to be under supervision and he gets to thinking he can do what he wants, which is what we need him to prove. Is what he wants good for us or not?" It made sense in Dean's head anyway. And even sounded better in Dean's head.

"What ever it is, fine, it will probably work. But what are we going to do about these little guys?" Sam asked as one of them curled up in a little ball with its head resting on his hand.

"Take them with us." Dean said, as if that was obvious. "Besides, this is the closest Dad will probably ever be to being a grandfather. I say we let him be a little mentally ill for a bit."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Speak for yourself." He said. "One day I plan to have a family... " he didn't know when that would be as he would have to find someone that could compare to Jessica, and that would be difficult beyond belief.

"Always knew you were domesticated." Dean said with a grin as he got up. "So the poltergeist went well. We kicked its ass. Granny has vacated the building." He said with a laugh. "Then he used me to scope out a restaurant for Murphy."

"That's great!" Sam said. "It's about time he got on with real life. You know the stuff outside of hunting and research." Besides if his father could do it, that gave him hope that he too could one day.

"Great? Dude, I feel like I've been pimped out." Dean said, not seriously. "That's not great. That's bad. Sure, Murph's great, and it was our idea, but dude, he used me to go check out date places." He paused and laughed. "Our dad is going out on a date. That is so weird."

"It's about time, don't you think? It's only been almost my whole life that he has been single." Sam pointed out. "And I don't think Dad was ever made to be single... not really."

Dean agreed. His father was built to be alone, not really. Look at how he was when they found him, and compare him to him now. Big difference really. "True, okay, so I won't give him as much flack as I want, I'll just mock." He said. He wasn't going to give real flack anyway.

"Exactly.. mockery is required. Otherwise he will think we don't approve at all." Sam pointed out. Being as good and dutiful sons, they would be expected to keep their mouths shut if they didn't like the date after all. Dean of course was the good and dutiful son. Sam... Sam would open his big mouth and spill it.

Dean laughed and got off the bed. "Come on, help me pack these three up." Dean said with a laugh. He was easy. Shove some clothes in a bag. The dogs? Well, Maxie had a special travel bed and a travel blanket and special bowls. She was definitely spoiled.

"Dude, " Sam said with a chuckle as he started gathering the travel gear for Maxie, "you realize that we are going to have 4 dogs on this trip. Three spoiled pugs and Mutt."

"Maxie will keep 'em all in line, won't you girl?" Dean said to his dog, who made a movement that could be taken as agreement. "Besides, it'll be fun. Dad's not all that high tech anyway."

"That depends on who is in the back seat with all the dogs." Sam said with a laugh. "Or are we taking two cars?"

"Not sure if there is a trip yet, but come on, two of them are puppies that fit in your hand." Dean said, laughing.

Sam laughed. "The other two have personalities that make up for any size issues." He said as he nestled the two puppies in one arm close against his body. "It'll be fun having all three of us in a normal sized apartment again. We got an old enough TV that I don't destroy it automatically by turning it on."

Dean laughed. "True enough. So it'll be fun. And hey, it's been a while since we've been in a normal place, right?" He had been stuck in the mansion a bit, because he had all his computers, fax machines and printers in the office, and every once in a while he had to pay attention to Morningway Enterprises. Right now, it was fine and could be ignored again for a bit.

"I'm not sure normal is allowed. But it will be fun to try. Besides, we gotta cramp Dad's style by being home. Slow him and Murphy down a bit." He said with a laugh.

Dean laughed as he gathered up all the things. "Exactly. That alone will be fun. And frustrating for him. We got years to make up for after all."

"Especially since Murph has a daughter and they won't be going back to her place either." He frowned. "You don't think he will figure we are adults and... can handle it, will you? Wow, that would be awkward at the breakfast table."

"Oh just a little." Dean said with a laugh. "So I think Dad will want to avoid that scene. I'm thinking hotels, nights when her ex has the kid, things like that. Few and far between, thank god."

Sam laughed. "Yeah, they move too fast and the relationship won't go anywhere."

"Exactly. Like mine." Dean said with a chuckle. He'd admit it. None of his 'relationships' ever lasted more than a week at most. That suited him right now, at this place in his life. Anything more was dangerous, as had already been proven.

"Ah... but you see the difference isn't that it's slower moving. It's that he will stick it out even though it's slower moving. You know... that whole wanting a relationship thing. Even if he won't admit it."

Dean shook his head. "Hey whatever works." Dean said. "I'm just hoping for a nice vacation away from all this." He said, waving his hands around the mansion. The nurse, Justin, everything.

"Vacation we can arrange." Sam said. "Even if it's just across town. Besides, Vincenzo's Pizza is down the block from the apartment. It doesn't get much better than that."

"Dude, think that waitress still works there? You remember, the cute redhead?" Dean said with a grin as they made their way down to the car.

"She does. She remembers you too." Sam said he got settled in the front seat, managing to buckle up one handed as he held the pups under his jacket to keep them warm enough.

"Yeah?" Dean said with a grin. "Well, that's good. Guess you might be on puppy sitting duty tonight. 'Bout time if you ask me. Maxie is convinced that they need to be fed every hour on the hour."

"Well...Maxie would know I guess. I am gonna take em over to the vet we got them from and have him check them over and make sure they are okay. Since the mom was abused and stuff just wanna make sure it didn't effect the pups. Whadda ya think Max? Wanna go with me since Dean is ditching us for a red head tonight?"

"Dude!" Dean said as he drove. "Max, I'm not ditching you." He said with a chuckle, glaring at Sam. "I'd offer to take everyone with me, but you're all really noisy eaters."

"Ah the truth comes out now, Max, he isn't ditching us. He is embarrassed to take us out into public." The dog was used to their banter. "Personally I would rather think he's ditching us."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Trying to gang up on me by wooing my dog. That is so freaking sad." He said. "At least I'll always have my car. She definitely will always like me better than you."

"That's because it's a car, Dean. Cars don't have feelings or moods... it's just a car." Sam pointed out as he petted the puppies squirming in his jacket.

"You want to walk?" Dean said with a laugh. "That's blasphemy." But he pulled up in front of the place and parked the Impala. "Come on, let's crash the place."

"You're funny." Sam said in reference to the threat. He once more adjusted the puppies in his jacket and got out of the car. "And it's not crashing. It's Dad's place, can't really crash your father's place."

"Sure you can. When you're adults and all." Dean said with a grin as he opened the backdoor so Maxie could hop out, and grabbed her supplies. He knocked on the door, "Dad, you here?"

"Yeah." John called from his room. "I'm here." He came out as he buttoned up his good shirt. "What's this?" He asked with a grin. "Looks like you are moving in. Weapons...dogs..."

"I never go anywhere without my weapons or my dog." Dean said with a laugh as he unloaded all of Maxie's stuff and got it set up for her, and unpacked his weapons. "So, you got everything you need?" He asked his father with a smirk, tossing him a box of Trojans.

"Nice." John said and tossed the box into his room. "You two behave while I'm gone." He said with a grin as he went to get his jacket, going through the old routine with the proverbial tongue in cheek.

Dean laughed. "Absolutely. I'll make sure Sam's in bed by eight. Nine at the latest." He said with a straight face.

"You know where the weapons are, lock the door behind me... and don't wait up." John said with a smile that actually reached his eyes.

"Dude, I think Dad's going to score. I don't know whether to be disgusted or proud." Dean said with a chuckle.

"I am going to pretend you didn't say that." Sam said as he found a place near the fireplace to put the puppies down and bundle them in a blanket, stepping back to allow Maxie to get in to set it up to her satisfaction.

"Dude, you are such a prude." Dean said. "You know what I'm going to do? If you ever get a job, or go back to class, I'm sending you a stripper gram."

"Well now there's incentive to be an under achiever skating though life on the family fortune." Sam said with a laugh. "And I'm not a prude. I just don't want to think of my father having sex."

Dean shook his head. "Whatever you say, man." He said. "So you want spaghettios or mac and cheese?" He asked with a grin. Two of the maximum of three meals he'd made in their childhood while their dad hunted or reconned.

Sam laughed then. "Fruit loops." He said, going to sit down on the sofa. "Of course I could send you down the road for pizza and have the house to myself for the night too."

"Thought I was supposed to be babysitting my fluffy haired baby brother?" Dean said with a smirk. "How can I, as a big brother, possibly go back on my obligations like that? Who knows what trouble you'll get into if left unsupervised!"

"Yeah... I might do something silly like watch TV or pet the dog." Sam said, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, there's a lot of sex and violence on TV you know. Way too harsh for your sensitive mind. Would hate to warp you and everything." Dean teased as he called to have the pizza delivered. He wasn't really going to feed his brother Fruit Loops for dinner. Well, not tonight anyway.

"Dude, you would love to warp me." Sam said as he turned on the tv. "Fortunately for me, I'm the good son, I don't warp."

"Okay. As long as you're convinced of that." Dean said with a laugh as flopped on the couch to wait for the pizza. "I'm the good son. I always got the extra cookie."

"That's because you could reach the cookie jar and you were the one doing the rationing." Sam pointed out.

"Dude, same difference." Dean said with a good natured laugh as the pizza was delivered. Disappointingly, it was a guy that delivered it. Dean paid him off and set the box on the coffee table.

Sam put the puppies down and went to get the paper plates out of the kitchen. "So what has Justin been up to lately?"

"Renewing old acquaintances mostly." Dean said as he grabbed the beer. "Catching up on the last five years or so. Rebuilding his lab, since I think he's finally accepted he can't have his old materials back."

"That's a start. Maybe he won't wind up involved in something that will get him killed this time around. They are looking for any excuse you know."

"Yeah, I know. And I'm sure they'll find one too." Dean said with a shake of his head as he handed his brother a beer. "Then again, Justin is crafty. If he's doing something not quite on the right side, no one will know until it's over."

"By then it's too late. I gotta wonder how Mom came from the same family as Justin. I mean... she can't have been as sneaky and underhanded, Dad would have seen through someone like that. Not to mention wouldn't still be love sick."

"Oh she was." Dean said, going off the memory of a four year old, and stories his dad would let slip. "She just used her powers for good. Like when she wanted the kitchen redone." He remembered that, Mom had still been pregnant with Sammy, and there was so much noise and activity.

"Oh yeah, that compares." Sam said with a laugh as he went for his second slice of pizza. "Love at first sight between a Marine and an heiress. Sounds like something out of a novel, not real life, doesn't it?"

Dean laughed so hard he nearly choked on his pizza, as he washed it down with beer.

"Dude, what exactly was on your reading list for college?"

"Classics." Sam said. "You know, books that are longer than 100 pages, and involve more plot than where to shoot next." He teased.

"Yeah with plot lines full of implausible romances and soft core sex too." Dean said. "No wonder you're so into porn."

"Verses what? Ian Fleming and Barry Sadler?" He asked. "And I am not into porn. Everyone watches it once in a while."

"Okay, okay I give. Dad told us not to fight, remember? And it's no fun fighting if he's not here to get frustrated about it." Dean said with a grin. "And Ian Fleming is cool."

"Sure, when you realize he was making fun of international espionage" Sam pointed out. "I mean come on... Pussy Galore, Octopussy, Xenia Onatop. the women's names alone are enough to prove that."

"And that's what makes it great. It's all tongue in cheek and doesn't take itself seriously. Which is more than you can say about Tolstoy." Dean said.

"True but Fleming didn't influence people like Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. Tolstoy did." Sam pointed out. "But what the hell... Bond is a lot of fun to watch."

"Fleming influenced me, and that's enough." Dean said with a laugh. "I grew up on John Wayne movies, horror flicks and Bond. Explains a lot."

"No kidding." Sam said with a laugh. "And you were my primary influence. It's a miracle I turned out as well as I did." He teased.

Dean laughed. "Dude, it's a miracle you survived puberty, never mind survive it as a good kid." He said. "Maybe you're just a late bloomer. We've got plenty of time to get you a police record."

"That's okay, I'll pass. I like being off the radar. " He said in return. "One of us has to stay out of the tabloids after all."

"Dude, I love the tabloids." Dean said with a grin. "They've got it all wrong, but it's funny to read. Hey, did you know I was courting some princess from Spain? Neither did I. Wonder if she's cute."

"Dude, " Sam laughed, "I keep telling you to get their names first." He teased.

"Why bother? I can just read about it later." Dean said with a laugh. "That's all right. They think you're gay."

"Why do they think I'm gay? I had the same girlfriend rather publically for years." Sam shook his head. "Well at least they won't have me getting some princess knocked up and creating an international incident."

"Rock Hudson was married too." Dean said with a chuckle. "I guess since we're brothers they figure we should be out whoring together or something. Like I'd share the action."

"There is just something wrong with whoring around with your brother. Sorry man, that just... no." He said. "When you are around the last thing on my mind is getting laid- sorry. You're like a bucket of ice water that way... and that's how it should be."

"Now see, I'm able to block you out completely and get back to the business at hand." Dean said with a laugh. "But you're right, you're not quite in my scene."

"Besides... still not ready for that." He said with faint frown that he quickly hid. He still felt Jessica's death keenly, and whether he admitted it aloud or not, he felt responsible. He wasn't about to set another woman up to be killed by the demon.

"Not yet." Dean said. But he knew time moved on eventually, and usually moved right across your soul. "But don't count yourself out just yet. You're just a kid."

"When the demon is destroyed." He said with a nod. "Then I can think about it again."

"Yeah, well, not like we're making any headway on that." Dean said with a frustrated sigh. They'd gotten sidetracked with their father's 'return from the dead' and then Justin's real return from the dead, then the sepulchers and the coup on the council.

"Guess that means I don't have to worry about it for a while." He said with a shrug. "But at least Dad is able to move on. It's taken long enough."

"Definitely gives me hope for you." Dean said. "I mean, now that Dad's distracted, and Harry's worried over Justin, leaves me a lot of free time to terrorize you."

"Nice... you get free time and you want to terrorize your little brother. Wow... and here we all thought you had matured past 13." Sam teased.

"Who said that?" Dean said with a laugh. "I never claimed any such thing." Sometimes he had the emotional level of a ten year old. And on the other hand, he'd spent years being the uber adult long before he should have had to.

"Well at least you're honest." Sam said with a laugh.He understood his brother better than anyone else alive. There was a good deal more to Dean than even Dean was willing to admit was there.

"Besides, if I didn't terrorize you, you'd think I didn't like you anymore." Dean said with a grin as he ate another piece of pizza. "Should we go spy on them? I know where he took her, you know. We could grab Harry." It was just so weird. His dad on a date.

"No we are not going to ruin Dad's date. We might scare her off. Besides, Harry is getting laid with that little waitress from the café down the block from his office. He calls it a date but it's like you going out for a date."

"Dude, Harry dates. Sometimes." Dean said with a shrug. "And I think it'll take more than us spying to scare Murphy off. I mean, if dead uncle coming back from the dead doesn't scare her off, not sure what will."

"Dean, unless you want Harry and I spying on your next date this is seriously not a course of action we want to take." Sam said with a laugh.

Dean laughed. "Thought I didn't date?" He teased in return. "Fine, we'll leave Dad and Murphy alone."

"Good. I like seeing him happy. I don't have any memories of him being happy." Sam said. "I guess it's one of the reasons I push Jess to the back of my mind as much as I do. "

"Because you don't have memories of Dad being happy?" Dean asked. "Or because you don't like to remember when you were happy?"

"Both." He said honestly. "Don't want to wind up like he was... and too much thinking about things that are lost forever ... well... you know how that is."

"Got it." Dean said as he dropped the subject. "It'll be okay. I mean, Murphy can totally handle Dad. And put him in his place if she needs to."

"Yeah, and I get a feeling we won't have to spy on them to get a glimpse of that. She doesn't strike me as being afraid of public opinion." Sam said giving a smile, more to show that he too was changing the subject rather than any real mirth.

"Dude, that might be worth spying on to see." Dean said with a laugh. "Dad getting his comeuppance? That would rock. I've never seen it."

"I don't think we have to watch from the wings. One of these days he is gonna be the big bad ex marine trying to protect the lady cop and she is gonna show him a thing or two."

Dean laughed. "Yeah that'll be classic." He said. "And you know Harry's just waiting for that. Probably has popcorn on him at all times so he's prepared." Harry and John had drawn a truce, probably for the sake and sanity of Sam and Dean, but they still didn't really like each other.

"Harry is looking for anything to bring Dad down a notch and vice versa. It's funny really. Other than Harry blaming Dad for us being so messed up, and Dad being pissed off at blamed, I think they would get along great."

"You know, I don't even think we're messed up." Dean said with a scowl. "So I think Harry's a little off base with that one."

Sam looked at his brother as though he had grown a second head. "You can't be serious." He asked. "Dude, seriously. We've got so many issues, they are subscriptions. But I don't think it's Dad or Justin's fault. It's the demon's fault."

"Dude, I don't have issues." Dean said. "You took way too many psych classes in college, that's all. What are my issues? Um...I like women. A lot. And a lot of them. I like to go kill demons. Most anything can be solved with a healthy dose of violence, and if it can't, well, set it on fire and it'll disappear. Actually, I'm pretty well adjusted for a hunter."

"For a hunter being the operative phrase." Sam pointed out. "We both have abandonment issues, we both have vengeance issues, we both are a good deal more paranoid than other men our ages... that aren't schizophrenic. The first thing that crosses our mind when trouble arises is, can I kill it? We are seriously messed up." He shook his head. "And you only like women a lot to keep from liking one a whole lot more. Same reason I avoid them."

"Dude, way too many psych classes." Dean said with a laugh. "Didn't they tell you in the first class not to diagnose your friends and family?"

"Not an analysis. Just a statement of the obvious. Which I can now add denial to." He said as he started flipping through the channels.

"Okay, you need a good head injury." Dean said. "So you can forget all about those stupid classes. They've made you way too...analytical. Yes it is an analysis. Okay, Mom died. Dad left us. I'm over it. And just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not coming after you."

"More to the point just because they are after you doesn't mean you aren't paranoid." Sam said with a smirk.

"Dude, I'm not paranoid. I just have a heightened sense of vigilance is all." Dean said, throwing food at his brother for the smirk. "Something you'd do well to develop. You're the only one I know who gets hit by parked cars, and thinks it's perfectly normal."

"I was cursed by my evil almost mother in law." Sam said. "I plead extenuating circumstances." He said and looked down at Maxie who was starting to tug at his pant leg "What? Oh, feeding time, right." He said as he picked up one of the pups and handed him over to Dean, then took the other one in hand.

Dean laughed. "Go ahead. Tell me my dog is 'just a dog.' I dare ya. Considering you just spoke her language and all." He teased. That was Sam's biggest way of teasing Dean (or one of the biggest ways in any case, to mock his communication with Maxie.)

"Just because she communicates, doesn't mean she is more than a dog. She is a good dog, but she is a dog." He looked at the puppy in his hands. "You wouldn't want to be a rotten ole human when you grow up anyway, would you? Much better in your case to be a Dog with very financially secure owner."

"I never said she was a person. You people infer that I think she's a person." Dean said with a laugh. "And watch the owner talk. Probably will turn out that the dog has a financially secure pet."

"Yeah if I follow your and Dad's example." He said and looked over at Mutt, keeping watch at the door for John to come home. The dog sighed and lay his head over his paws once more "That one reminds me of you when we were little."

Dean looked over at Mutt. He didn't see it. "Sure, if you say so. I was cuter." He said with a smirk. "And less likely to leave hair all over the furniture. Though Mutt does have one thing up on me. Gotta admit that. If I were as flexible as him, I might not ever leave the house!"

"Dude that is so disgusting... and you call ME gay? Yeah... right." Sam shook his head and laughed. "And please... I remember you standing at the window and staring out it, as though that would make him come back sooner."

"It's not gay if it's with yourself." Dean pointed out. Okay, so he had. He'd stare out the window and think if he stared hard enough, he'd see his father drive up. And most of the time, eventually he had. Except that once. Then all he remembered was John driving away further down the road until he couldn't see him any more. "Yeah, well, I was a kid. I learned more as I got older." That sometimes people just didn't come back, no matter how long you stood at the window.

"We both did... but ... at least we know now that he tried." For Sam that was enough. Which was why he had been willing to give the man a chance now. Unfortunately he was still waiting for Justin to show something equally redeeming. Something to make him want to try to forgive him.

Dean wasn't sure, even still, that that was enough. He tried to think that it was, he did. But sometimes the rest of him got the best of the thought process, and it wasn't. It should have been, he knew that logically. But still. A lot of that had to do with guilt, that if he had just done what he was supposed to, that their father wouldn't have ditched them at all.

"Yeah, guess we know that." Dean said with a shrug as he fed the puppy.

"I feel like this is the calm before the storm." Sam admitted as he nestled into a comfortable position with the pup. "You know... that there is something waiting in the wings to leap out at us."

"What could possibly be waiting?" Dean said with a laugh. "We've got sepulchers, an insane council, a mad Red Court, a demon who likes to mess with us, wizards just waiting for a piece of us, an uncle back from the dead, literally. And our dad is dating a cop! So, take your pick!"

"Yeah... I know... still... it just... it feels wrong. Something is coming Dean... and I don't know what but it's coming."

"Dude, are you having visions or something?" Dean asked. "How many times did you get hit on the head when Branwen was after you?"

Sam sighed and stared at the puppy in his hands for several minutes, letting the silence fall between them. "I have been having them since just before Jess was killed." He said softly.

Dean stared at his brother for a long moment. "You little punk." He said. "So the headaches...the nightmares...they weren't just headaches or nightmares. Which meant you were lying. You lied to me, Sam! How am I supposed to help you if you won't tell me?" If Sam didn't let him, how was he supposed to be the big brother Sam needed?

"You can't help me, Dean... no one can help me. There isn't even a spell that can make them stop." Or take away the pain, that came from knowing he had known Jess was going to be taken away from him, weeks before it actually happened. He was a wizard, he should have known that dreams weren't always just dreams.

"Dude, you still should have told me. I'm your freaking brother!" He said, putting the puppy down once the bottle was finished. He looked at Sam. "You had a dream about Jess dying before she did, didn't you?" He asked quietly.

Sam sighed again and looked away from his brother. "Yes." He said in a low tone. "Alright, yes, I saw it. Maybe Branwen was right. It's my fault. I should have known what was happening. "

Dean went over to his brother and grabbed his shoulders, making Sam look at him. "It is NOT your fault." He said. "Even if you had figured out that it was a vision and not a dream...what were you going to do? Were you going to stop the demon that so far none of us have been able to touch? Sam, Sam, look at me. It was not your fault, none of this is your fault. You want to blame it on me, you can. But it's not your fault."

"Why would I blame it on you ? The son of a bitch has been after me all along, hasn't he?" Sam said, shrugging away and putting the puppy down next to Max. "It isn't what I can do or not do... it's the fact that it's me he is after, and he is going them to get to me."

"Not going to happen." Dean said firmly. "And that's final." Whatever he had to do, he'd do it. Willingly. Any time.

"And that is why there isn't going to be anyone else in my life until this demon is dealt with. I'm not going to get someone else killed. I can almost forgive myself for Jess," almost being the operative phrase. "I didn't know what was going on... now... now there is no excuse."

"Okay, fine, I respect your view point." Dean said. "Means your Friday nights are free, so you get to be my wingman at that latest dumbass charity thing. You know, where everyone stands around and makes a point to work into conversations how much they're worth and how much they're donating."

"Oh god... I thought I got to dodge that particular family responsibility when I became the black sheep and moved in with Dad." He said with a long sigh. "Fine, I'll go."

Dean laughed. "I wasn't giving you a choice." He said. "Thinking of making Harry and Dad go too." He hated these things with a passion, but this was one of the drawbacks to the company. Once a year he was required to dress up and play.

"You want to take Dad to a society fund raiser? Are you nuts? Half of those people are weird enough to raise hackles, and the other half are evil enough to make a demon twitch." Sam said shaking his head. "They are only attending fund raisers to get into the society pages."

"Yeah, I know." Dean said. "I figure we might have a little fun with it. Besides, if Dad goes, he'll take Murphy, and if you and Harry go, I get to be surrounded by people I like. Which, believe me, considering the fight I almost got into at the last one, is a good thing."

"What happened at the last one?" He asked. The last one he remembered was the fiasco where he had met Melissa. Now there was a nightmare he would like to forget.

Dean grinned. "I hit on the wrong girl. He didn't appreciate it, tried to be all manly and defend her honor or something."

Sam laughed. "So you want me along to...what? Watch your back when you hit on the wrong woman again?"

"Exactly!" Dean said. "It's your brotherly duty after all. And if I have to suffer, everyone has to suffer. It's called family bonding."

"How about we just don't hit on anyone there and call it safe?" Sam asked, figuring none of the society types were Dean's type anyway. They all came with strings, trust funds and gold digging expectations.

"That's half the fun." Dean said. "Get their dates all defensive and such. Then the girls get all up in arms, sometimes there's a high society bitch fight..."

"That is so messed up ... I mean seriously messed up, you know that right?" Sam asked.

"You obviously haven't had the joy of seeing two or three women, all decked out and made up, fighting over you while their useless boyfriends stand by crying." Dean said with a laugh.

"I don't think I want to either." Sam said shaking his head. "You see, that makes the girls worth having go the other direction."

"There are no girls there worth having." Dean said. "To them my most attractive feature is my bank balance. How is that worth having?" Dean shot back.

"Then why are you hitting on them if they aren't worth having?" Sam didn't get it. He wasn't the playboy type. Couldn't even wrap his head around the illusion of it.

Dean rolled his eyes. "I just explained it. To get their boyfriends all insecure and whiny, and get the girls competing against each other. Because if you expect to be entertained by whatever lousy singer they paid off this time, think again. I suggested Metallica, they shot it down."

"Nice... yeah well, I never expect to be entertained at those things. Jess and I... " He paused for a moment, "Jess and I used to sit back and make fun of all the would be piranha swimming in their high society pool."

"Yeah I know." Dean said. "But these charity things are a necessary evil. By the end of the night, I get them all good and drunk," no watered down drinks at anything thrown by Dean Winchester after all, "then they open up their checkbooks accordingly."

"Sounds good. What's the current charity?" He asked picking up the puppy once more. He was beginning to understand Dean's attachment to Max. There was something comforting about a cuddly furry little body, that had nothing better to do than give and receive affection.

"Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation." Dean said with a shrug. He tended to gravitate toward charities and organizations that benefitted children. But if anyone pointed that out, he'd deny it and laugh it off. "Maybe we should bring the dogs." He mused.

"Oh yeah that's a great image for the press. Winchester boys bring dog as a date to fund raiser."

"Hey, at least I know Maxie doesn't love me for my money, do you girl? No, she loves me for my endless supply of liver treats and bananas..." Dean said with a laugh. "Fine, we'll go stag. And hopefully leave stag." These weren't his type of women.

"I'll remind you of that about the time some drunken debutante is crawling up into your lap." Sam pointed out.

Dean laughed. "Please. Because the morning after sucks." He said, when they'd start planning a beautiful future together, and all Dean was concerned about was getting her out the door before he went out.

"If you didn't have such a reputation as a man whore, it might not happen so often, you know." Sam teased.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Yeah, maybe. But I like my reputation. Stops me from being bored, and makes me a challenge to women, believe it or not, which just ups my do-ability factor."

"What challenge?" Sam asked with a laugh. "Oh the ones that want to tame the wild libido. Yeah... that'll happen."

"I know that, you know that, even Mouse knows that. They," meaning women, "don't know that." He said with a grin. "It's all right, life is just a big old smorgasbord."

Sam shook his head. Even growing up with everything they were still broken. Who would have thought it? Maybe they would have been better off living with their father all through their child hood. Nothing they could do about it now really. "Hope you have a prophylactic antibiotic on hand." He teased.

"Always." Dean teased back. "Why, you want one too? Just in case after all. Harry and I get a group rate you know, on the antibiotics."

"You know... that's just wrong." He said with a laugh. "Okay so when is this evil fund raiser?"

"Tomorrow night. Starts at six." Dean said. "You didn't really think I'd give you much notice, did I? Then you'd try to weasel your way out."

"Figures. Fine I'll take the tux to the cleaners to have it pressed in the morning." He said. "But you owe me." He pointed out.

"Bullshit." Dean said with a laugh. "Hey, this family is your cross to bear as well. Every once in a while I need a little back up is all. This is just doing your yearly family obligation."

"Keeping you from sleeping with girls from the so-called right side of the tracks is a family obligation?" Sam asked, beginning to laugh. "There are easier ways."

"You bring up neutering one more time, I swear I'm gonna shave your head." Dean said. "Come on, we'll have a little fun. We always do."

"I'll go but I think you might be the only one having fun." He teased. "I mean you get the girl fawning all over you, and I get to deal with the chick's boyfriend."


	16. Chapter 16

Sam adjusted the tie of his tux and shook his head. "I can't believe I let you talk me into this." He said to his brother. "I hate these things." He had a bad feeling about this. All of it. But that made it all the more imperative that he actually go to this media circus that the company put on every year in the name of one charity or another.

Dean chuckled. "It won't be that bad. I mean, come on, we've got our own social circle there." Dean said with a grin. They'd convinced Harry to go. And their dad. Who was bringing Murph. So it would all be fine.

"Might be worth it to see Dad and Murph in formals. Bet the last time Dad wore one, he was getting married."

Dean shook his head. "Wow, jumping the gun, are we?" He said. "Besides, if Dad and Murph got married, she'd have to let us near Anna then. And she barely allows it now!"

"I didn't say he was getting married. Just that he hadn't worn one since... you know." Sam clarified. "I'm not the one jumping the gun here. That's all in your head."

"The only thing in my head is surviving this night without doing something stupid." Dean said with a chuckle as he pulled on his jacket. "Come on, let's go. And we're not getting a limo. You're not that kind of date."

"I'm not a date. You couldn't afford me." Sam said with a grin as he started toward the door. "And people talk enough as it is."

"Dude, you're a cheap date. Two beers and you're singing bad kareoke." Dean said with a laugh as he grabbed his keys. He looked at his watch. "Okay, starts at 6, should be able to make a graceful exit at 8. If not, we'll make an ungraceful exit."

"Sounds like a plan." Sam said as he double checked the blanket for the dogs and the water and food for Max and Mutt. He then headed for the door "Come on... let's head out to not get you laid for a change. Although I still think that is weird."

"Come on, it's a good plan. And it's good to shake things up a bit, change the routine." Dean said with a grin as they got into the Impala. "I mean, the way most of those women are, I'm better off by myself with one of your porn tapes."

"I don't own a porn tape. And there are more than 2 sorts of women you know. Or maybe it's more than one. Ones that don't respect themselves enough not to fall into bed with the first good looking guy to come along and those that don't respect themselves enough not to sell themselves for a bank account... comes out to the same in the end really."

"Basically I'm chum in shark infested waters." Dean said with a laugh as he drove toward the hotel, whose ballroom was hosting this event. "Good looking bank account walks into a room filled with type one and type two women..."

"You need to find one like I did... one with enough of her own money that yours isn't really that big of a turn on." He pointed out, and smiled, even through the pang of emptiness that engulfed him.

"Yeah, do I need to remind you that Melissa had plenty of her own money? You saw her house, I mean, you broke into it and was held captive and everything." Dean said, coming off as flippant even if the mere mention of her name physically hurt.

"It wasn't money that she was after, Dean." Sam said gently. He knew that it had to hurt Dean, as surely as Jessica's name sent shards of pain through Sam's very soul.

Dean shrugged as he pulled up to the hotel. "Yeah, well, that's over now, right?" He said as he parked the car, not trusting valet drivers. "Come on, let's fortify ourselves with some alcohol, that will make this bearable. Think Harry brought a date?"

"No. I think he likes showing up stag at these events. If he brought a date, he would have to explain how he got the invitation." Sam pointed out. "And liquid fortification sounds like a good idea."

"So the only one that brought a date is Dad. That's funny." Dean said, chuckling as they walked toward the hotel. Once they entered, their jackets were taken. They didn't need tickets, everyone here knew who they were, or at least Dean. Sam was committed to memory as well, as they headed straight to the bar where Dad and Connie already were.

"Wondering when you two were going to show up." Connie said. She rarely had to dress up, so she actually had to go shopping, and found a nice age appropriate gown in purple. There were enough twenty somethings with their cleavage about to tumble out, Connie had no desire to join them.

"You look great." Sam said with a smile, and then greeted his father. "So the goal tonight is to keep Dean out of trouble with the debutants and the gold diggers. Usually one in the same." Sam said. "So anytime we see him shmoosing and enjoying it... we have to make him not enjoy it any more." He was only half teasing, although his grin said he was looking forward to the amusement.

"Oh that's easy." Connie said with a grin. "Just bring things like rashes and drainage into the conversation." She teased.

"Ew. So not funny." Dean said. "The goal is not let me go home with someone. Not make my whole night miserable!"

"Yeah, but how many times have you said that was one in the same?" Sam asked. "Granted, it was usually at some sleazy dive but what the hell."

"Only difference between this place and a sleazy dive is the price of the food." John said with a rumbling chuckle. "Don't worry, we'll keep everyone off your ass." He said to Dean.

"Gee, thanks." He said and saw Harry, waving him over.

Sam laughed softly. "Yeah but Mom was a debutant too, so they can't all be man eating baracuda. Jess wasn't either, and don't give me anything about one decent one per generation either."

John laughed. "All right, we won't." He said, though he believed it to be true. As did Dean. Which 'screwed' him over, since Jess was part of his generation, and the generation right now in the room that kept looking over at the small group of Winchesters and Morningways.

"Besides...it's Harry's turn." Sam said, with a sad grin. "He hasn't been devastated by love yet. I think he is feeling left out."

"No. Not really." Harry said with a bit of a chuckle as he made his way to the bar and ordered a drink. "Really, it's okay. We don't have to share everything."

"Aw." Sam teased. "What's family for? It's not all about sharing the chocolate in my Christmas stocking you know. " He smiled a little remembering his first Christmas as a Morningway. Not that he would rub salt in his father's wounds by giving out details in front of him. But there had been more chocolate in his stocking that morning than Sam had seen the whole year previous, and he was sure that it was supposed to be for every one not just him.

"How about tonight we all behave ourselves?" John suggested with a chuckle. "Seems the best course of action. After all, we'd hate to set a bad example for impressionable young Dean here."

Sam and Harry both choked back a laugh at that one. "Yes, Sir." Sam said after a moment, smiling boyishly.

"Nice, you guys. Really nice." Dean said with a laugh, grabbing a refill. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go raise some money, you bunch of lushes." He teased as he moved through the crowd. "Oh hey, nice to see you...great night...glad you could make it...oh it's a great cause..."

Sam leaned against the bar. "From the innocent baby of the family all the way to lush in 5 minutes flat. Now that's a serious days work."

John laughed. "Your brother always was a fast worker." He said with a grin. "And if there's a shortcut that'll work, he'll take it."

Sam laughed as well. "Yeah, that sounds like Dean." He said keeping an eye on his brother, he had promised after all to make sure he didn't do anything stupid tonight.

"Our mission, since we accepted it, is just to make sure he doesn't go home with anyone." Harry said with a chuckle. "I think we can let him flirt a bit. Else he'll be insufferable."

The woman walked through the crowd , mingling, laughing softly, talking lightly with those in the rooom. Her strawberry blonde hair was pulled back in a style Grace Kelly would have adored, her gown was elegant. Velvet in a signature copper shade that matched her eyes. Eyes that scanned the crowd for one man.

Dean worked the crowd. The object of the game was to get them to open their wallets. Just another con, even if this was one he'd never feel guilty about. Seems some part of his life was always about the con, sadly enough, in one way or another as he shook hands, complimented women whether he meant it or not, and told everyone just how happy he was to see everyone.

She heard his voice and turned. He was here as she knew he would be. The only question was, whether or not he had allowed his brother to break the spell over him. The council would never have done it. Not with what she knew about them.

Dean laughed at the comment of a city councilman, though it wasn't funny. But it wasn't funny in the least. Then excused himself, only to stop dead as he'd taken three steps, feeling all the blood pool in his feet. "Melissa." He said. She was supposed to be dead.

"Hello Dean." She said gently, and reached up to caress his cheek with her hand. She honestly had missed him. She didn't exactly feel love, but she wasn't exactly upset with the way plans had been lain out for her either.

Dean's breath caught as she touched his cheek. Her skin was surprisingly warm for a dead chick, he thought randomly as his eyes darted wildly around. Then he wordlessly turned around and pushed through the crowd, heading to the bathroom, quickly. Reaching the toilet just in time to empty his stomach.

Harry put his drink down, seeing the commotion. "Oh shit." He said. "Sam!" He said, moving toward where Dean had been.

Sam looked up. "Go see to Dean. Now." He ordered his father, scarcely realizing he was doing it, but the sight of Melissa in the crowd made this wizards business, not irate father business.

"Hell's bells." Harry swore. "You know... Morgan doesn't miss." He growled to his younger cousin.

"Not unless he's ordered to." Sam countered darkly and moved to stand in front of Melissa. "Let's take this outside, quietly, politely, without involving the norms, shall we?" He said, and there was no hint of a request in his tone.

Melissa turned on a pleasant smile. "Sam, it's good to see you again. Did you miss me?" She said, then her lips curled a little more, she felt like baiting him. "I know your brother did."

"No... Not really. I thought you were dead. Guess wardens aren't what they used to be, but that's okay... I can do the deed myself in a pinch." He was council now after all. "And if you don't give me one good reason I probably will."

"Don't expect her good reason to be sufficient for me though. I don't believe in them myself. Good reasons. Completely over rated."

"Has Sammy finally grown up?" Melissa asked, grabbing a glass of champagne from a circulating waiter and taking a sip. "I don't have to explain myself to you. Only to Dean. And it's imperative that I talk to him. Now." From his reaction, and the reactions from Sam and Harry, she knew the spell was still intact. Made her wonder why, really.

"Not happening." They said in unison. "And yes, you do have to explain yourself to me. You've broken how many laws now? Demon summoning, breaking of the human will, attempted murder, although that goes along with the demon summoning if you want to be fair about it, but I have absolutely no desire to be fair about anything where you're concerned." Harry said. "And I believe the council member just ordered you to step outside. I'd do it if I were you. Or I can have the officer of the law over there handcuff you and escort you out."

Melissa laughed, a sound akin to water tinkling across crystals, but colder. "I have an invitation. This is not a council event. You have no power here. Or over me, council member or not. I'm sure you can put the dots together yourself. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have someone to see."

"I'm not excusing of anything or allowing you anywhere near my brother. Leave your number and if he wants to call you he can. But you don't get to see him. In case you didn't notice, he ran to the bathroom to throw up. Not exactly an indication he wants to see you. And this is a Morningway event. I have all the authority I need to have you escorted off the property."

Melissa gave Sam an amused look. "You've made your point known. But there are so many points you don't know, Sam. And if you did...it would change everything. I'm no more to blame than your brother, really." She gave Harry a glare at his audible snort. "I need to talk to him."

"Then why don't you start making those other points known because if you don't... " Harry said and left the rest unsaid.

"You stole his ... DNA... to cast the spell, you created the rings to bind the spell, you tried to kill me to keep me from proving that it was a spell, that failing, you tried to make him go with you on the airplane. If he hadn't had the sense to call the pilot and tell him the plane wasn't going anywhere no matter what he said later, God only knows what you would have done with him. And you have the audacity to tell me you are as innocent as Dean in this? Lady, I haven't had enough to drink to be that gullible."

Melissa's spine straightened up a notch. "Don't threaten me. You don't know what you're getting into. Just leave it alone." Melissa said with wide eyes. "Now, I'm going to go talk to Dean. Maybe you should drink a little more, Sam."

"Maybe I should call Uncle Justin." He said pulling something out of his pocket that he never thought to say.

"Sam, no." Harry said. "No... "

"But you are not getting anywhere near my brother while I am still alive, and you failed to kill me before I doubt you are any more prepared tonight." Sam said ignoring Harry's protests. "So your choices are to spill it all to me and Harry now and have the hope of seeing Dean after we talk to him ourselves. " He stepped in closer to her. "Or you can explain it to Justin and hope that his resurrection has softened his protective streak where family is concerned."

Melissa's eyes widened at that, and she paled a bit. "I...can't." She said. "I really can't. You two have no idea what's going on, what's really going on, and I feel bad for you. But I can't change that. Dean is involved, whether he knows it or not, but you're not. It's better if you leave it that way."

"He's my brother." Sam said. "I don't care if it's dangerous. If it involves Dean, it involves me... and I have no reason to believe you. Evasion makes it worse. This is your last chance. We can handle it like Winchesters, or like Morningways. Your choice. "

Melissa laughed again, but it was a nervous laughter tinged with fear. And the fear had nothing to do with Winchesters or Morningways. "I can't." She said. "Tell your brother to call me if he wants to know what I've been doing for the last three years."

"You aren't going to get to see him along until we find out what is going on." Sam said. "But fine... go on. Get out of here before I change my mind." He added harshly.

"You always were the sweet one in the family." Melissa said, patting his cheek softly as she walked past, disappearing into the crowd.

"I'm going to kill that woman." Sam grumbled. "Go get hold of Morgan. I want an explanation."

Dean felt better. Kinda. But he cupped his hand under the running faucet and rinsed out his mouth again. His jacket was tossed across the room, his tie somewhere, and his shirt untucked. He barely acknowledged his father's presence because right now he wasn't able to as he slumped against the wall and sat on the cold floor.

John had no clue what had caused Dean to freak out, but it was major. He knelt down beside his eldest son and waited for him to look as though he were capable of speech once more before asking him any questions.

"I'm good." Dean said. Hoping to convince himself as well as his dad. "Wow, some party." He said with a humorless laugh. "Maybe we should leave."

"Yeah, okay. What happened out there?" He asked.

Melissa entered the room. "He saw a face from the past." She said and latched the door so that there wouldn't be anymore intrusion. "I know I am probably the last person you want to talk to ... but I have to talk to you, Dean." She frowned and sighed as the large brick wall of man that was John Winchester stood up between her and Dean. "There isn't time to do this again. Please, just let me talk to him. I don't even care if you stay in the room with us."

"Dad, it's okay. So far." Dean said as he looked at Melissa. "What the hell do you want? What? You think you haven't ruined my life enough? Is there some other little torture you forgot to do the first time around? And oh yeah, why the hell are you alive?"

"I was... pulled away at the last minute... Dean... I didn't do any of this to ruin your life." She told him stepping closer as John reluctantly stepped aside. "This... it's bigger than you think it is. I can't explain everything...but it's important that you give me a chance."

"Why would I do that?" Dean asked. "You think because you've got a freaking spell over me that I'm still enthralled. Oh yeah it's still there, baby, but you know what? Loses a whole lot of its power when the subject knows it's there." Was he still in love with Melissa? Right now, with her standing amazingly in front of him, the answer was god yes.

John looked between his eldest and the woman. "This is the one?" He said, putting it all together, and on the verge of throwing the woman out. He'd seen the aftermath of what she had done to Dean, he wasn't about to stand by and watch a repeat.

"I'm sorry." She said as she knelt down beside him. "It's not all how it appears. I ... god I don't know how to explain this." She said, a stray tear falling down one cheek. "I was pulled out of the airplane at the last minute... because I was pregnant... which was the reason I was sent after you in the first place."

Dean looked at her sharply. And had to remind himself one thing at a time. One thing at a time. "Who pulled you out? And why? Why would they care if you were pregnant? God, you were pregnant? And you tell me three years later?"

"I couldn't get away, and until recently I was still convinced the council didn't want my head. It's about bloodlines... merging bloodlines."

"Bloodlines? What are you talking about? Why not Sam or Harry, who are actually magical? Why was I such an easy fucking target?" He said, though he was more mad at himself for that than her. "You couldn't get away. From where? And where's the kid? Was it a boy? A girl?"

John was dumbstruck. His son was in deeper than any of them knew, including Dean. And a kid...wow...that made him a grandfather. Mindblowing. But the hurt was still all over Dean's face, and his posture, he couldn't get past that. A part of him wanted to take Melissa out back and finish what Morgan should have finished.

"I don't know." She said raggedly, tears falling freely now. "After the plane... I was on bed rest... I nearly miscarried. They wanted to make sure the baby was alright but they never gave the child to me after I delivered. I was kept there for almost a year... a- an estate in the islands... Caribbean. Magical safe house they called it. Prison more like... I don't know where they took the child."

Dean took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. And repeated. "What do you want from me? Why did you come here to tell me this now? The kid's gotta be toddler or something." A kid...holy shit. He looked at his father, everything was hitting him too fast.

"I couldn't find the child on my own... I thought maybe you would have a better chance at it. I wanted you to know the baby existed before... I should go. I just came to talk to you. Sam is already threatening to call in your uncle and... I have enough trouble without that." She started to rise.

"I think that's best." John said with a frown. "You've done enough damage."

"None of this was supposed to turn out this way." Melissa said quietly to John as she brushed the tears off her cheeks.

Dean sighed. And looked up at the ceiling. He couldn't believe he was going to do this. But it wasn't like it was about Melissa at all, right? There was a whole other reason. "Call me tomorrow. We'll get some coffee and fgure out what we're going to do about this."

She nodded. "Alright... I'll call. Thank you." She told him and then turned to rush from the room.

"Not sure it's a good idea to meet her alone. " John said. "We have no way of knowing that the child is real. This could be another ploy to get at you."

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" Dean demaned. "Ignore it all and hope it's just a ploy? Or bring everyone with me, get her on the defensive, and everyone else on the offensive? Tell me what I'm supposed to do!"

"You have to do what's best for you. What's safest for you. She did terrible things to you son... maybe... maybe we should see if Harry and Sam can break the spell before you go and meet with her alone. Put you back on steady ground."

"Steady ground? She told me I have a kid out there. That is NOT steady ground. Steady ground does not exist any more." Dean said, standing up and splashing his face with water. He grabbed a towel and wiped his face off. "I'm fine, I'm good. Don't worry about me."

"The hell I'm not going to worry about you. You forget I know what it's like to not know where your child is. A love spell binding you to his or her bitch mother so she can use you again isn't going to help, son."

"No, you don't know how it feels. You lost us because you got double crossed after you left us with strangers. That's completely different than having a lost kid sprung on you three years later! You have no idea how this feels." Dean shot back. "Look, I'll handle this. This is my problem, I'll handle it."

John tensed. He had wondered when the other shoe was going to drop. Had been waiting for it for a while now. "You're right. I don't. But don't you dare belittle what I went through. Right now you aren't a father to that child. You're a sperm donor. One cornered into it by magic. You can't handle this on your own. If you could you wouldn't be in this mess in the first place." John shot back, regretting it the moment it came out of his mouth. He had been eating crow since the boys had found him and he had just had his fill of it.

"This isn't about you at all!" Dean shot back. "It's not about belittling you or sparing your feelings. For once, this is about me. Dean. I'm the one that messed up and I'm the one that's going to find a way out of it. Just stay out of it, okay?" With that last comment, John had helped more than enough.

"You know what... you're right. You don't want my help. You don't want anyone's help. Especially if it involves breaking that goddamned love spell hanging over you. So go ahead, Dean. Take care of it yourself. You know where to find me when you pull your head out of your ass." He said as he stormed out of the bathroom. There was no dealing with Dean where this woman was concerned. Even when he had thought she was dead he had been unable to deal with it. John was going to have to go about things on his own to get to the bottom of what this woman was really after.

Dean paced the bathroom for a moment, then punched the mirror out. Made him feel a little better as he washed off his knuckles and returned to the party. Where Harry and his dad had already disappeared. Murph too, she probably went with their dad. Whatever, screw them.

Harry had found Morgan and sat next to him. "We've got a big problem." Harry said. "That Morningway Enterprises charity event? Not only were the appetizers awful, but Melissa Sutherland made an appearance. You know, the woman you killed and all. Which got me thinking...was Morgan so disappointed over not killing me that he's slacking everywhere else?"

"This doesn't concern you, Dresden. " Morgan said in his usual bland, long suffering tone. "It would be better if you stayed out of it entirely."

"Oh I'd love to." Harry said. "Except for the fact that she tried to kill Sam with the big plan of framing me for it. And probably off Dean as well once she was done with him. So that makes it a little personal. What's going on, Morgan? Why is she back?"

"I don't know." He said. "She was pulled out of the plane by powerful magic. I didn't see any point in telling Winchester in the condition he was in. It was reported to the council and taken out of my hands."

"Probably a good choice." Harry was forced to concede. "Is she still protected? Did you even know she was back on the radar? Morgan, this is a practicioner of black magic. You're a bloodhound for ones like that. Believe me, I know."

"Morningway came sniffing around, asking questions because he dissected Winchester's story of what happened. Other than that there hasn't been any mention of her in 3 years. I don't know if she is still protected or not but I suspect she is. If you care at all for your cousin, keep him away from her."

"Wish I could." Harry said with a sigh. "He still has the spell over him. We haven't figured out a way to break it." Melissa was more powerful than she should have been. He wasn't discounting the chance she was some sort of prodigy, but he wasn't counting on that. "Morgan," this was nearly painful to ask, "if you come across any information, let us know. Please. This is Dean's life on the line, and as much as you don't like him, he's completely innocent in this one instance."

"I neither like nor dislike him. I don't know him. If I come across information about the woman... I will let you know." Not necessarily let him know what it is until he had already dealt with it himself. That would all depend on what was found. Some things Dresden didn't need to know. For his own good, Dresden didn't need to know.

"Thank you." Harry said. "It's just...no one looks out for Dean. Not even Dean. For once, I think it would be good if we did." He said in a rare moment of candor with the warden.

"Samuel looks out for his brother. Don't let that innocent face fool you. There is steel there. There is power there. And all of it will be brought to bear against anyone harming Winchester. "

"Which is almost as bad as letting Dean flap in the breeze." Harry said. "Morgan, just keep me in the loop. I don't know what Melissa is up to..." He said as he thought. "Can we call a truce? This once? Because if Melissa works Dean over, you'll have the Winchesters and all their hunter friends up against the wizard community. I won't be able to hold them back. A truce, and we try to stay one step ahead of her?"

"A temporary truce then." Morgan said and offered his hand. "In so far as you don't break any laws. " He clarified. Morgan didn't trust Dresden in the slightest. He had given into vengeance and dark magic once. That opened a door way. He could and eventually would fall into the darkness again.

Harry shook Morgan's hand. "We've got a truce. Temporarily." Harry agreed. "So what do you know?"

Morgan sighed. "There are rumors. Most are squashed by the Merlin as propaganda alone. They say that there are those trying to manipulate the bloodlines."

"Sounds like it's possible then." Harry said, horrified at that thought. "Makes sense she went after Dean then. Because even if the spell didn't work, she was almost guaranteed to conceive anyway. Oh Dean is not going to like this."

"If that is the case. It's also possible she was after that third Morningway seat on the council. Which is what the council assumes is the reasoning. But that would not explain the protection she was afforded or the powerful ally that literally pulled her out from under my sword. "

Harry nodded. "I'll see what I can find out. You see what you can find out. See if we can figure this out." Harry said, since they had different sources, together they actually stood a chance.

"Good luck. Keep an eye on Samuel. He doesn't have a warden assigned to him yet as a junior member of the council... and he is a prime target to get at Winchester."

Harry nodded. "I know. Believe me I know." Harry said. "Okay, so keep me informed. I'm going to catch up with Sam."

Morgan nodded and faded from view.

Sam found his brother at the bar. "Let's go home." He suggested. "Pick up the dogs, maybe go hunt something down. Get out of town for a few days."

Dean finished his drink and signalled for another. No women were hanging around, his very posture screamed solitude. "She was pregnant." Dean said. "And they took the kid. Least that's what she said." Either he told Sam or their dad did. So he decided to come right out with it as the bartender handed him another glass.

Sam paled at that. "Who took the kid?" He asked, figuring now wasn't the time to point out the woman he was in love with was a lying coniving gold digging murderous bitch.

"No idea. I'll figure it out." Dean said. "That is, even if she's telling the truth. You need to stay clear. She practiced black magic. She doesn't even have the self defense thing that Harry does."

"All the more reason for me not to stay clear. You can't face her alone, especially with that spell hanging over your head. This isn't the time to be taking things on alone. For either of us."

"Sam, she tried to kill you once. Nearly did." Dean said, shaking his head. "This is my mess. I need to clean it up with as little damage as possible. And you are not allowed to be damage, got it?"

"So we get all the details we can from her and send her on her way. We break the spell over you and we go looking for your child, if it actually exists."

"Yeah, maybe." Dean said. "I'll see what she has to say, see if it's all a lie or not. You know, not to be maudlin, but just when I thought I was getting my life together, you're okay, Dad and I are getting along, Justin and I are getting along, no more doom on Harry...this happens. I karmically fucked up somewhere. Really sad thing? I can't pinpoint any ONE time."

"Dude, bad things happen. Life isn't all about punishment and rewards. This isn't because of you. I don't know what she is after but it isn't to punish you for some fault, real or imagined."

"Keep talking." Dean said with a chuckle. "If I keep drinking, bet I'll even start to believe you. LOok, I'm meeting with her tomorrow, see where things are with this whole mess. See what she knows. And what she's going to lie about."

"Is that why you won't let us remove the spell? Cause you think you deserve punishing or something? Dean... come on..." Sam shook his head. "Where are we meeting her?"

"We are not meeting her. I'm meeting her. I'm serious, Sam. She nearly killed you, and I want you as far away from it all as possible. Not to mention how it will look to the council, who would just love to finally be able to lop the head off a Morningway descendant." Dean said emphatically. No, his brother would be as safe from all harm as he could possibly keep him.

"Fine take Harry with you or Dad." Sam said firmly, not wanting to leave his brother unprotected. "Either that or we go and talk to Merlin about taking care of that spell."

"Think I'd like to leave the council out of this. Something's not ringing right. She avoided the blade of a warden after all. That's some serious heavy stuff." Dean said. "And Dad's not exactly talking to me right now. Again."

"What happened?" He asked with a slight frown. Well that meant they really did need to talk to Justin.

"Just the normal shit." Dean said with a scowl. "Dad told me he knows how it feels, I told him no he didn't, and he got all offended. Because I'm sick of walking on glass with the guy, and right now I don't have the patience to do so."

"You aren't the only one thats been walking on glass you know. He does too." Sam said. "Probably just an explosion that was meant to happen eventually. You two will be fine... if you want to be."

"Well, now's not the time to deal with it." Dean said. "I don't have the patience, with everything else, sorry, Dad has to take the backburner."

"Yeah I know and I am sure he does too. Look, Dean... you have to realize we can't let you go and meet her alone. She's gonna get your head turned around with that spell intact. "

"Fine. Then who do you suggest? Harry?" Dean said. "Like he's going to pleasant enough to get any information out of her. Spell or not, I know Melissa. She doesn't respond well to attempts at intimidation."

"Then take Murphy." Sam said. "You start acting freakish she can handcuff you and bring you in. Hell you would be better off going with Bianca than going alone. She could keep your attention on sometihing other than wanting to dive into bed with your psychotic ex." He frowned. "She is still an ex ... isn't she?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "Yes, Sam, she's an ex." He said patiently. "Hard to forget the whole spell thing, not to mention the part where she tried to kill us. That really sucked, not to mention puts a damper on a relationship, wouldn't you say?"

"Yeah. And I know you believe that now but once you look into those eyes of hers...with the spell intact... Dean... you aren't gonna be in control of yourself. you know that. Remember the part where you wanted to forgive her for trying to kill me? Where you wanted to fly off with her? Come on... you can't blame me for worrying and being insistent. "

"Fine." Dean said. "I'll bring Bianca. It would be nice to make her jealous after all, because she did leave me in a way." Dean said with a laugh. "And I bet Bianca can make women jealous really easily without trying."

"The woman is drop dead gorgeous. The only thing that could make her more sensual would be if she were of the white court instead of the red. I can't imagine anyone not being jealous of her." Sam felt more confident with Bianca going. With the addiction, Dean would be distracted enough from Melissa.

Dean grinned. "And if I'm a really lucky man, and if you're right that I'm not karmically fucked, I see a big tub of jello and those two in it in my future." He said, with a laugh. He wasn't worried about the addiction, the crap Harry was giving him covered it nicely, even if it was a chore to choke it down every morning.

Sam choked. "Okay... Bianca in a tub of jello? Hey, who am I to interfere with your delusions but wow, that is seriously a huge delusion there."

"Dude, a man has to have dreams." Dean said with a laugh. "Besides, now you know what to get me for Christmas, if you're so inclined. So I'll take Bianca, and they'll have fun. I mean, Bianca kinda likes me, you know."

"And she is big enough to keep you from running off with the debutante from Hell. Come on. Let's blow this place. Staying here can't be good."

Dean finished his drink and set the glass down. It was an open bar, so he laid down a tip for the more than patient bartender. "Yeah, you're right. Where'd Harry run off to?" He knew his dad had left already, probably to take matters into his own hands, which was never good.

"I sent him to track down Morgan and find out what really happened on that plane." Sam said. "I need to talk to Merlin, and I need to talk to Justin as well."

"I'd rather keep Justin out of this, actually." Dean said as they started to walk out. "I'm serious. He doesn't need to fall back on the black magic. Given the opportunity, he probably will."

"He also is the only one we can almost trust that has enough knowledge of the black arts that he could help us sort out what she is up to."

"Yeah, okay. He's also the one we're waiting on to exploit one of us for his own needs. You don't think this grants him a nice opportunity to do so?" Dean said. "Dude, haven't I been used by black magic enough lately?"

"Yeah well fight fire with fire and all that. Since you won't let us free you from the spell." Sam countered. He wanted nothing more than to talk to the merlin and have the woman's head removed for real this time. But he knew better than to say that to his brother right now.

"Come on, I'm bringing the safest person with me. No way is Bianca going to back down from anything." Dean said. "It'll be fine. At least tomorrow will be fine."

"Come on, let's go pick up the dogs and go home." By that he meant the estate. There they could count on safety, at least with two wizards in residence.

"Yeah, we'll pick up some hard booze and some action movies." Dean said. "You know what sucks? Tonight was supposed to be a good night. You know, us all just kinda hanging out, and laughing at the stuck up people..."

"Yeah I know. It started out pretty good too." Sam said. "Come on. I'll call ahead to the mansion and have them send up the good stuff to our old room. "

"Sounds good." Dean said with a laugh as he handed Sam the keys. He was in no condition to drive right now, and he planned to be in no condition to drive until morning. That was the great big plan for the night. "No porn movies."

"Dude... I don't watch porn! And never with my brother. That's just gross." Sam said with a laugh as he led the way through the crowd.

"Dude...you do watch porn. Just, luckily, not with me!" Dean shot back with a laugh as they finally got outside and he took a deep breath. "God, our old room. A house that size and we still shared a room for nearly a year."

"I didn't want you out of my sight. Besides, that room is bigger than anyplace we had stayed before then."

"Okay, point taken." Dean said with a laugh. "It'll be fun." He hadn't wanted Sam out of his sight when they first arrived either. And with Melissa back in town, and back in the picture, he didn't want Sam out of his sight now.

"If you want, you can wait in the car while I go in and get the dogs and stuff." He suggested, not really wanting Dean and his father to continue what ever argument they had. Of course he was sure it was that their father offered to help with something sensible like keeping her away from Dean. "It'll give me a chance to call Bianca anyway."

Dean shook his head. "All right." He said, not ready for round two himself as Sam drove back to their father's place. "I won't go anywhere." He promised. "I'll behave for probably about ten minutes. Which is actually a long time for me."

"Yeah well I won't be long. See you in a few." He said, parking the car and heading up inside to the apartment. "Dad?" He called out as he started to gather a few things.

"In here." John called out. "Yeah, Joshua, get back to me on that. It's important. Got Bobby on it already. He's gonna wrangle Pastor Jim for me."

"Hey Sam." Connie said from where she sat at the table, books of every sort spread before her, and a legal pad in her lap and she jotted things down. "How's your brother?" She'd gotten the story, as much as John knew, when he'd stormed out of there, her hot on his heels.

"About as well as you could expect. He is insisting on meeting with her tomorrow sometime, but I got him to agree to take Bianca along." Sam told her. "She won't let him go anywhere with her." He said and picked up the phone to dial Bianca's number.

John shook his head. "That sounds just like your brother. Pitting two women against each other in some way when he's in way over his head." he said. "I'm working on digging up information on all this. Got my feelers out."

"Good. I'm gonna find a way to break that spell whether he wants it or not. In the mean time I'm sticking to him like glue. " As much as Dean would allow. "She'll run off with him if given half a chance. She tried it before, after she tried to kill us with a demon that is." He slung his back pack over his shoulder and the picked up the puppies and nestled them in close. "Come on Max, Dean is waiting for us."

Max barked lightly at Dean's name and trotted after Sam.. John sighed. "Just watch out for him. He barely does it for himself when he's not under a spell." He said to Sam. He wouldn't put it past Dean to run off with her anyway, a big part of his core personality was impulsiveness after all.

"I know. I will, Dad. " Sam said and then redialed Bianca's number, wondering why she hadn't answered yet. "I'll see what I can do about a tracking spell or something. Unfortunately he can't know about it."

"Hello?" Bianca said on the fifth ring. She was there, but she was occupied. With inconsequential business, but it never hurt to make people wait. She checked her caller ID. "Sam, to what do I owe this pleasure to?"

"I need your help." He said apologetically, then explained the situation. He felt like an idiot because he couldn't control his brother now of all times. But what was he going to do? Tie him up? Yeah... that would work.

Bianca laughed a bit. "So a council member is imploring the head of Red Court to babysit his hunter brother because his black magic ex fiancee isn't as dead as was promised?" She teased. When put that way, it was amusing. "I could just kill her."

"You have no idea how tempting that is to me." Sam said in all honesty. "I need time to find out what's going on. Someone in the council is supporting her. She is just the cat's paw, or concubine or what ever, but I need to find out who is behind the main plot before they know I am on to them. And I am hoping that I am asking a friend for a favor, not pressing my luck here."

"It sounds like an amusing way to spend a morning." Bianca said with a laugh. "And I'm not fond of your council to begin with. Tell Dean to pick me up. I've always loved to get other women on the defensive, it's a hobby of mine."

"I'll let him know." He said as he went to the car and opened the door to let Maxie in. "I'm not sure what time, they are setting up the meeting later. " He handed over the puppies to his brother one at a time. "But I will tell him to call you when he knows the time and to come and pick you up." He said, giving his brother a pointed look. "But call me and let me know if he doesn't show up, please."

Dean rolled his eyes as he took the puppies. "Yes, Mom." He said as Maxie hopped into the back. "I'll call the bad vampire girl to meet the bad wizard girl. You're a complete bad influence you know."

"Yep, learned from you." He told Dean. "Thanks Bianca. I'll talk to you later." He said and hung up.

"I'm not a bad influence. I prefer to think as myself as part inspiration and part cautionary tale." Dean said with a chuckle. "It'll be fine. Bianca will probably tear her apart if she tries anything. Could be funny actually. "

"No it wouldn't... thats the problem." Sam said as he started the car and headed for the mansion. "You would do anything to stop anyone else from hurting her. You would make any sacrifice to keep her close. It's the nature of the beast."

"Don't worry so much Sam. If it gets to that point, Bianca will knock me out. If she was stupid, you wouldn't have agreed for her to come along." Dean said with a shrug. "Okay, how about this whole thing will be amusing in retrospect in a few years?"

"Guess that all depends on what happens whether it will be amusing or not. For instance... if you are still under the spell... not seeing much amusement there."

"Oh I'm seeing lots of amusement at my expense." Dean said with a laugh, drunk enough to get a kick out of the image. "Come on, let's get back. Knowing Melissa, she'll call me around 6 am."

"It's not amusement Dean. It's frustration and concern." Sam said, who couldn't be any more sober if he tried.

"Dude, you need to lighten up." Dean said. "You can be all serious and angsty tomorrow. Along with frustrated and concerned if you want. Your hair is going to be so gray by the time you're thirty..."

"Yep, every last one of them put there by you." Sam pointed out. "I will try not to inflict my worry on you tonight if you will try to ... think clearly about this situation in the morning."

"That's why I'm bringing Bianca, remember?" Dean said with a grin. "There's no way I'll think clearly. Melissa will try to use her wiles, which means tight and possibly low cut. And those are actually the only types of clothes that Bianca owns...so...yeah...no clear thinking for Dean."

"That isn't what I mean." Sam said. "But yeah I can see where that would get to a guy. I mean...the fact that she could be lying through her teeth about everything. It could be nothing more than a trap."

"Could be." Dean said. "Or could be the closest she's ever come to telling the truth. I don't know, guess we'll find out one way or another, right?"

"Yeah. I know. Just promise me you won't run off with her." Sam said.

"And that, little brother, is why I'm bringing the chaperone, remember? If I get that thought in my head, she'll hog tie me and bring me back." Dean said, then grinned. "Which, actually, could be kind of exciting."

"You, big brother, are a pervert." He said with a laugh as he parked the car in the long drive of the mansion. "But I know you... if you want to go, you'll wait until after the meeting is done, and Bianca gives the all clear and you'll slip out and go. Promise me."

"Wish I could, Sammy." Dean said seriously. "I'll do my best, how's that?"

"I know... Dean... let me try and break the spell... please." Sam said.

"Sam, stop asking." Dean said as he got out of the car. "Really, it's getting old. Really old." He shook his head as he opened the back door for Maxie to hop out. "Come on, girl. Tell you what? I'll bring Maxie. She hates Melissa."

"Why are you fighting so hard against it, Dean? What more is it going to take to convince you this thing is dangerous? And yeah... you take Maxie... pack up the one last thing you wouldn't want to leave behind when she makes you go with her."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Fine. Then Maxie stays. But you gotta stay with her." Dean said. "Cause she'll know one way or another, and she'll let you know one way or another."

"Dean... keep talking like that and I'm gonna lock you in the lab down stairs until the bitch gives up and goes back to what ever rock she has been hiding under."

"Yeah, that's reasonable." Dean said. "Can't do anything like that until we know whether or not she's telling the truth. I mean, shit, Sam...a kid. MY kid."

"I know... which is why you aren't already in the lab." Sam said with a sigh. "We'll find the kid, if the kid actually exists... " Sam wasn't convinced that it did. Too convenient.

"I know." Dean said. "And for something like that, I'd bring you along. Cause Melissa doesn't know how to track for shit."

"You better, or I'll kick your ass." Sam said. "And I won't fight fair." Which was about the only way he could manage it. He didn't have Dean's training. But a wand was a good second.

"I never fight fair." Dean said with a smirk. "Which means I'll wipe the floor with you. Could be fun. But how about tonight just some bad horror movies and beer?"

"Sounds like a good plan. I could use a good laugh." And that was what horror movies were for Sam. It was like watching the key stone cops.

"Tell me about it." He said as he headed into the entertainment room and grabbed old videotapes. If Sam sat far enough away, he didn't affect VCRs as much as a DVD player.

Sam settled back in the furthest chair from the equipment. Sam was the reason they had a big screen tv. So that he could see it clearly from the back of the room. He waited for his brother to join him as he set up a make shift bed for the puppies he carried.

Deam chuckled as Sam took up his position, and popped the tape into the VCR. "You know, it's times like these that I really don't feel bad that the whole magic thing passed me right by and slammed on your head instead." He said as he brought over some popcorn and some beer, settling into his own chair.

"Yeah... trust me... I really did hate it when I went to college. Especially when they tried to make watch internet lectures and hand in our work disks for certain assignments."

Dean laughed. "I can see how that would be a problem." He said. "That would be when you took unusually large withdrawals, right? To pay someone to take your chicken scratch and put it on a disk?"

"That's the one. " Sam said shaking his head. "You would be amazed how much you have to pay someone to type for you. Would have been cheaper to hire a secretary. Of course there was two of us needing papers done."

"Dude, do you know how much I pay my secretary?" He said. "There are lawyers that make less, trust me."

"That's because they have to put up with you." Sam said. "And the rest of the crowd over there at the office. " He pointed out. Morningway Industries was not known for being the easiest place to work in Chicago.

"I'm just saying, all she does is answer phones, schedule appointments and meetings, and type up what I've dictated." Dean said. "And she gets paid well. I mean, sure she talks to the press for me too, when they call. And deals with the little legal problems...prettying them up before they get to the real lawyers..." He chuckled. "Okay, point taken. Not sure which job is harder. Secretary under me or secretary under Uncle Justin."

"Oh, I'm betting Justin, he probably had a lot more difficult legal issues since he is a much slimier man than you are." Sam said. "And tends to forget that the help is human too. "

"You noticed that too?" Dean said. He'd spent summers watching his uncle rule over his domain when he was a teenager. And Justin wasn't exactly the easiest employer. And though Dean often made more work for them with his 'antics' and habit of disappearing, at least they felt human working under him. "You're not going to tell him, are you? About Melissa I mean. All we would need is those two to gang up together."

"I don't think it's ganging up together that you are worried about." Sam said. "You're afraid he'll hurt her." He said bluntly. Sam was still thinking it was a good idea to let him do just that.

"Which we can't allow anyway." Dean said. "No matter what you think or feel, it would turn out badly for Justin. And so far, we still need him when it comes to taking down the council."

"And you don't want her hurt, more to the point." Sam said with a sigh. "So what are we watching tonight?" He asked, changing the subject before it turned into an arguement. The bitch had hurt him beyond all belief, and to have Dean defend her, even passively was so unlike his brother that it set Sam's teeth on edge.

"Blood Splattered Bride." Dean said with a chuckle as the movie came on. "It's hysterical." He assured his brother.

Dean didn't fight fair. He never did. So he slipped his brother a mickey in his beer and watched the movie. Sam was still out when he got the call from Melissa, he got dressed quickly, fixed the blankets around his sleeping brother and left, giving Maxie instructions to watch him.

He did, however, pick up Bianca. Because that was the deal, and safer for him, he knew.

Bianca settled into the passenger's side of the Impala "You actually showed up. I'm surprised."

"I'm full of surprises." Dean said with a laugh as he headed to the diner where Melissa would be waiting. "Thanks for doing this. It makes Sam and Harry feel a lot better about things, believe me."

"And you? What would make you feel better about things?" She asked, agreeing with Sam that it would make things a lot simpler to simply make sure the girl was sincerely dead this time around. But he had asked her not to, so she wouldn't.

"That I'd wake up and none of this would have happened." Dean said honestly. "But that's not going to happen, so I guess I should just make the best of what's going on now, right? And not run off with Melissa, because then they'll kill me."

"You run off with Melissa and the displeasure of people left behind will be the least of your concerns. First, she is a wizard, and the only guilless wizard I have ever met is your brother. It's going to get him killed one day." She said. "Second, she has tried to kill you once already, third, she has enslaved you. None of these things bodes well. If all she wanted was your help finding your child... she would lift the spell. No... she wants to maintain that power over you."

"Okay, then first order of business is to ask her to lift the spell." Dean said with a shrug. "If she doesn't meeting is over and we leave. You drag me out of there by my ear if you have to, got it?"

"Fair enough. Should prove quite the spectacle." She said with a smile. "The next step should be to have her prove that she has indeed even given birth within the time frame she suggests. A doctor in your employ should be able to provide such an examination. "

"Would it even be conclusive?" Dean asked. "Sounds like a glamor spell could take care of that easily enough." He said with a sigh as he pulled into the parking lot. "Let's just see how this goes." He was already on edge as it was.

"Unless your brother creates a place where magic will not work." She pointed out.

"You know, once this is done, I'm hitting the road. I'm seriously going to go track and defeat poltergeists and demons and spirits...just to recenter myself." He said as he got out of the car. Dean Winchester was not used to being a 'victim' of anything.

"A good kill always feels good after being overwhelmed." Bianca agreed with a nod. "Although I suppose you dont want to kill the one that would solve the problem."

Dean gave her a look as he opened the door for her. "No matter what, she's human. I can't. We all have our codes." He pointed out.

"You can't." She said as she got out of the car. "But we shall see. Perhaps it won't be necessary." She doubted it. That sort never did make things easy.

Dean grinned. "Are you becoming an optimist?" He said with a laugh. "Does this mean there's snow in hell then?"

"No. It means I was making it easier on you by giving the illusion that I don't have a homicidal intent for your witch." She stated honestly. "But I was asked not to by Sam so I won't... unless provoked."

"Great." Dean said. "So I get to play buffer anyway. Make sure she doesn't provoke you and all." He said, shaking his head as he led the way into the diner.

"No." Bianca said, laying her hand on his shoulder and stopping him. "I am here to protect you. You are here to suss out the truth. There is no buffer. You are not here to protect anyone. Least of all from me."

Dean chuckled. "I've known you a little too long for you to try and tell me you're not one of the most dangerous women I've ever met." He teased with a grin. "Come on, let's get this over with." He saw Melissa and headed over to where she was, and sat down across from her. "Lift the spell." He said bluntly. "Then we can talk."

Melissa raised an eyebrow. "Right here? In public? Why? So you won't feel guilty when your blood sucker kills me? Lifting the spell now is suicide. Once we find our child, I will lift the spell."

"No deal." Dean said as he got up to leave. "Because I kinda like being able to make decisions without my head being clouded. Which is why she's here." He said, gesturing to Bianca.

"And I am no body's blood sucker." Bianca said with a sniff. "If I wanted to kill you, really kill you, not even the council could stop me."

"Fine...Then I'll find the child on my own. " She said as she started to get up. "I'm not feeling particularly suicidal. You think I don't know that the spell is the only reason you haven't let Sam send the wardens after me. They may not kill me like he wants but there are worse things and I'm not fool enough to sign up for it."

"Sit down." Dean said, and he forcibly made her. "You're enjoying this. Oh yeah, a part of you is. Get another one over on Dean. I don't even know if you're telling the truth. Don't start on that you wouldn't lie about this. I remember you telling me I was the big love of your life and you couldn't live without me. That turned out to be a big joke on me, didn't it? See, with the spell in place, I'll start thinking every single word out of your mouth is double edged, and every single motive is ulterior. That's no way to do an investigation, is it?"

"You're going to think that anyway. " She countered. "I like you Dean, but don't grab me like that again. And joke isn't the word I would use. " She said scowling. "Either you want to work with me on this or you don't. If it's together the spell stays intact until the investigation is done, if not I'll break it on my way out of town. But I won't be back. "

"And you obviously know I can't make a decision like that while like this." Dean said. "That's not fair. I don't even know if you're telling the truth about anything. Because you've lied to me from the start."

"You want me to prove I've given birth? That can be arranged. I can't very well prove it's yours until we find the child. But I can prove that there is a child."

"No you can't." Dean said. "I'm sure there's a nice little spell there that will make doctors see what you want them to see." Dean countered. "Whyd did you do this to me in the first place?"

"To have a child... a Morningway child. Merge the bloodlines." She said honestly. "It's a very powerful lines. It's not just wizards out to merge... The white court already has..." She said looking at Bianca, even though she was the red court. Hell she was the red queen. "This goes deeper than anyone's wants and desires. It's not something either of us have any control over. "

"Bull shit. Why the spell?" Dean countered. He'd deal with the rest later. Even as Bianca cocked her head and started to pay close attention to the conversation. The White Court. That was something to look into on her own. "You were able to cast the spell in the first place because we screwed. Why the spell? I really don't need a spell over me to have sex with a hot girl."

"You do if you ever plan to marry and have more than one child," She said bluntly. "You would never get married otherwise. Not in a million years. And if you were cornered into it, you would have a hell of a time not sleeping around and creating by blows left and right to muddy the waters."

"More than one child?" Bianca asked, arching an elegant eyebrow. "That's why you won't lift the spell. You're expected by whoever to have more than one child, aren't you?"

"I'm not in contact with them. If I were in contact with them, I would know where to find my child." She said, her voice raising slightly. "I don't have time for this. I have to get out of here. If you won't help me, I'll to it myself." She said getting up again.

"If you could have done it yourself, you wouldn't have looked up Dean all these years later." Bianca said smoothly. "Now sit down. We're still talking." Her tone left no room for argument, and was one you didn't argue with in the first place. Not if you knew what was good for you.

She sat down. "They'll know if the spell is broken." She said finally, crossing her arms with a faint growl. "And they'll know I'm here, and why. Sorry, but I'm not taking that chance. No matter how threateningly you purr, or how violent Dean thinks he can be with me. Not... Happening."

"I think Dean could be plenty violent." Bianca said. "That's the thing with love spells. It invites its cousin, Rage, to the party. And Dean's not known for having the most tempered temperment."

"Hey! I'm plenty calm." Dean said defensively.

"Right now. So what do you have?" She asked Melissa. "Do you even have a starting point? Some sort of trail?" Sam was right, Dean was in over his head. Leaving Bianca to ask the questions that Dean should have thought of, if he weren't so distracted by Melissa.

"I was taken to an island. A private facility on a semi-private island. I don't know the names of everyone involved and the one I do know... you don't want to go anywhere near."

"I'll decide that." Dean said. "Come on, spill. You don't really expect to be able to do a search for a kid when you don't even know the gender, do you? Unless you've been lying aboutthat, and considering all you've lied about so far, I honestly wouldn't put it past you."

"Magnus." She said sharply, naming the one wizard on the council that could possibly go toe to toe with the Merlin and come out on top. Possibly... fortunately he was also one on Ancient Mei's shit list. "Alright. Magnus and a lot of wizards, Fey, White Court, that I don't know. There are rumors about Demons as well."

"I can tell you Red Court isn't involved." Bianca said. Since the latest attempt on a coup, she made sure she knew everything that was going on. Absolutely everything. She was queen this long for a good reason, she was damn good at her job.

"Okay, I'll tell Sam." He said. "He's on the council now. He might be able to figure something out."

"Red court couldn't be involved. They don't... breed the same way." She said and sighed. "Fine, tell Sam, what's he going to do? Sam is on the council the same way that cadets in the police academy are on the police force."

"Fine. Then I guess I have to let Justin in on it." Dean said. The last thing he wanted to do, but looked like he had no choice.

"And Justin will bungle in with his heavy hands and we are back with Magnus knowing where I am... and what I am after." She shook her head. "You are just aching to get me killed, aren't you?"

"Get off it, Melissa." Dean snapped. "If I wanted you dead, I would have made sure you stayed where you were when Morgan came, instead of trying to help you get out of there." Which he had, even if it was all for vain. Or so he thought. And it had broken him up for a long time after.

"Then stop making suggestions that all lead back to that end, will you?" She said. "I didn't come here to trap you. If I had, don't you think I would have done all this in private and taken off with you before anyone else knew I was alive?" She asked. "There was about a hundred different things I could have done if I was here to lure you into a trap of some sort."

"Or the appearance of a non trap could be a trap in and of itself. To lull him into a sense of false security with your genuineness and damsel in distress routine." Bianca said with a roll of her eyes. "Besides, he's not taking off anywhere today. That's why I'm here."

"I'm not asking him to." Melissa said. "And hadn't planned on it. Are you going to help me ... or are we going to sit around and cast aspergions, accusations and plan new and interesting ways to get me killed?"

"I was hoping for jello wrestling somewhere in there." Dean said, and got a glare from Bianca in return for that.

"Here are the rules. Dean is not to be alone with you. Because your spell has made him an idiot where you are concerned." Bianca said.

"Hey!" Dean said.

"Shut up, jello man." Bianca said. "From there, we can see what we can do to plan the return of this supposed child. Starting from this semi private island."

"Obviously if you left there, you know where it is." Dean said, mind getting slowly on track.

"Alright. I can agree to that. Of course I know where it is... the child wasn't there when I left, but there might be information there. Something I over looked. I was out of it at the time. Not thinking clearly."

Dean nodded. "Okay, so we head there."

"And the agreement was there was no taking off today." Bianca reminded him. "Don't make me call Sam and Harry. Though it might be more entertainment for me, I know that's not what you want."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Fine. No leaving today. Have to make arrangements anyway."

"Fine... no leaving today." Melissa said. "You know where to find me when you are ready. I'm going home. Please... don't take so long analyzing this that we don't take action. I don't care what you think of me... but that's my child out there. "

"And apparently it's mine too." Dean shot back. "So you really have to stop using that line."

"When you believe the child exists... you can get picky. You can't have it both ways." She said as she grabbed her purse and started to walk away.

"I can have it any way I damn please. Because for once, I'm completely innocent of absolutely everything." Dean said as he rose, but was restrained by Bianca's hand on his shoulder. "I'll call you." he said to Melissa.

Melissa nodded and looked over her shoulder. "I'll be waiting." She said, then made her way out side and into the crowd.

Bianca gave Dean a pointed look. "Am I going to have sit on you?" She asked him.

Dean raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Is that an indecent invitation? Bianca, I'm shocked. We're in public!" He said with a chuckle.

"I'm no one's second choice, and we both know you would rather have Melissa at the moment. No... am I going to have to restrain you, to keep you from going after her?"

"No." He said. "I'm good. Besides, my dog and my brother and my cousin and my father will kill whatever you decide to leave them." He pointed out with a grin. "So let's go drop you back off, I'll report to Sam."

"Alright. I will give him a call later and talk to him about all this. You know... it wouldn't be a bad idea to let Justin in on a few things. I have no love for the man, sincerly believe Harry did the world a favor when he killed him, but he is the sort of man you want on your side in a situation like this."

"Oh yeah. Just give him an excuse to use black magic." Dean said. "They're watching him closely enough as it is, Harry too, and he IS my uncle, no matter what he's done. He was good to me and Sam, so he doesn't get to die again. At least not for a while."

"You let that word distract you far too much, Dean. Family. When someone betrays you... they will do it again. He was good to you, but he lied to you your entire childhood... and he is keeping secrets still."

"Bianca, you can't understand. You're Red Court. You don't 'breed'. You convert. So your definition of family is far different than mine. Family sticks together and that's it. One way or another, even if they're avoiding each other."

Bianca laughed then. "That's right... I was converted... I was human once you know. " She got to her feet gracefully. "So... take me home."

"You kow what I mean." Dean said as he grabbed his keys. "I still can't believe Sam thought I needed a babysitter. I was perfectly well behaved."

Bianca gave him a look, that said 'how quickly they forget' and started to walk toward the door.

"Oh come on, I was." Dean said as he followed her out and got into the car, headed back toward Bianca's. "Seriously. I was fine."

"Only because there was a watch dog present. If not, I think you would be on the next flight to what ever island it is she says she gave birth on." Bianca said. "And you wouldn't be going alone."

"Bianca, you know about me and flying." Dean said with a roll of his eyes. "No matter what spell, there would be no hopping onto any flight." He pointed out. When he went overseas for business, he was heavily medicated. Nearly like B.A. Baracus from the A-Team, he liked to think.

"Hmm... and you weren't planning to leave with her on a plane when she was supposedly killed by Morgan? I must have heard the story wrong." She said casually.

"You did." Dean said tightly as he stared at the road. Even though Melissa was alive, it wasn't something he liked to think about, or recall. "She thought the demon finished Sam and I, or at least slowed us down. So she went to the plane, as my fiancee, she had carte blanche to use it, unless otherwise ordered by me. I came on the plane, and I warned her Morgan was coming, and she needed to leave fast. She was supposedly killed trying to leave the plane. So you did hear wrong."

"Hmm... well... curiouser and curiouser." She said and adjusted in her seat. "Now, when you contact her again... I know you will make arrangements to see her again. It wouldn't make sense not to. You call me before you actually go meet her. "

Dean rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, Bianca." He said patiently as he pulled up to her club. "Is this you with nearly a maternal instinct?" He asked with a grin.

She looked Dean over, with a gaze worthy of any white court vampire worthy of the name succubus. "Maternal?" She said with a raised eyebrow. "I think that is the first time anyone has ever used that word with me. Hmm... interesting."

"I know, strange. Especially since earlier you were offering to sit on my lap and all." He said, grin intact. "I don't know, that MILF thing is actually pretty hot you know..."

"I'm going to forget you said anything involving the M word. The other words we can discuss when I'm not playing second fiddle to a second rate sorceress." She said and eased out of the car gracefully.

"Aw, come on, Bianca." Dean said. "You're not even going to attempt to take my mind off her? What kind of friend are you?" Truthfully he could use the distraction. He knew it was only a matter of time until he did something stupid because of Melissa. It was always just a matter of time.

She leaned in and turned Dean's face to hers, kissing him hungrily. "Do you really want to play with fire on another front?" She asked in a sultry tone.

"Oh trust me, I already took that crappy stuff you gave Harry." He said with a grin, holding the back of her head and kissing her again. "Besides, I have this thing with fire, trust me."

"Park this thing... and meet me inside." She said easing out of the car once more. Bianca was one to be in control. Always in control. She wondered how he would handle a night with her. Could be interesting.

TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA TMA

Melissa hadn't bought food. She hadn't planned on being in town that long to need it. She knew Dean Winchester was still in love with her, that his brother had been unable to break the spell for whatever reason.

But as night fell, she found herself ordering food to be delivered. She was hungry, and it was nearly half a day since she'd left the diner, and Dean had yet to call her. Which was making her nervous. That maybe, now, Dean had consented to somehow breaking the spell. And that wouldn't do. Not with all that she had to accomplish.

She barely refrained from calling his cell, just out of curiosity (right?) as she turned on the lights in her den, a book open, though she wasn't reading it. She'd tried, but her eyes would drift up to the clock, and narrow.

Sam was furious. No call from Bianca, no sign of Dean. No one answered either his cell phone or Bianca's. He packed up Maxie and headed over to the house where he and Dean had nearly died at the hands of a very nasty demon.

He banged on the door soundly. He wasnt in the mood to sneak.

Melissa opened the door on the third pound. "Oh. It's you." She said flatly as Maxie growled at her. She glared at the little pug, but it had no effect on Maxie. The canine had been on hunts with Dean, Melissa didn't scare her. "Go away." She said, making moves to close the door again.

Sam moved in the way. "Where is he?" He demanded as he strided into the house. "Find Dean." He told the dog, making sure she was allowed entrance.

Maxie yapped at Melissa and started to stroll through the house. She didn't smell Dean anywhere, though she was trying. His brother was convinced he was here, so he had to be, right?

Melissa rolled her eyes. "He's not here." She repeated patiently. "Get out of my house before I call the police and have you escorted out for trespassing." She had no illusion the charges would stick, too much Morningway money behind him, but they'd at least make him leave.

"He didn't come home after leaving to meet with you last night. Why should I believe you that he isn't here after all you have already done?" Sam said locking gazes with her.

"Because if he were, we wouldn't be here." Melissa snapped. "You think I'm the most evil person in the world, that's fine. Your choice. But believe me, I'm not. I just want to find my child. I tried to do it on my own, but you know what? Haven't had the best luck with it. If you had a child, you'd do everything you could to find it. Everything."

"Your child that you can't even prove exists. Why did it take three years to show up for help? Who took this supposed child... why the hell did you bind my brother to you in the first place?"

"Get out, Sam. I don't owe you any explanation. Or even small talk." She said as she went to the small table to grab the phone. "I'm serious, get this stupid mutt out of here and leave, before I do call the police." She said just as Sam's cell phone started to ring. A piece of technology that represented millions of dollars in R&D from Morningway Industries, just so Dean could keep in touch with Sam, it was unaffected by his magic luckily enough. Even if it did chew through batteries.

Sam pulled out his cell phone. "Where the hell are you?" He growled, into the phone. "And you," he said to Melissa, "owe me a hell of a lot since you got away with summoning a demon and attempting to kill me on top of everything else. So don't even think about calling the police. I'm the last man you want to piss off right now."

"Where the hell am I? I'm home. Where the hell are you? And where's my dog?" Dean asked. "Dude, don't tell me you're over at Melissa's! I asked you to stay away from her. Dammit Sam..."

"What the hell did you think I would do if you didn't come back? Don't go anywhere else. I'll be home soon. Yes we are at Melissa's, I'll see you soon." He said.

"Told you I didn't have him." Melissa said smugly. "You're overly paranoid. I'd watch it, Sam. That's just the sort of thing that will send your brother running, I know how he hates people to hover. He's a big boy."

"Now you listen to me, once and for all." Sam said. "I've watched him mourn for you for three years. Because of a frigging spell. That you made sure he wouldn't want broken even if he found out about it. Which means part of your plan was to let him know he was enslaved at some point just to rub salt in the wounds. " He hissed. "You know, you summoned a demon, with witnesses... tried to kill us both. That much is on record. I could kill you now and no one would blink. So don't bait me, woman. It's not in your best interest. Come on Max. We're leaving."

"Dean would blink." She said smoothly as she opened the door for Sam. "Don't come back, next time I will call the cops." Who would be sympathetic to Melissa. Because Sam could hardly tell them about demon summoning and entrapment spells.

"And when I am through explaining to my Uncle Justin why he has to bail me out of jail, then you and he can discuss the problem." Sam said as he started to step through it. "And Dean would only blink once, cause once you're dead... so's the spell. I should have realized that before, but well... I've had a few years to do research since then. Have a nice day. " He said with a fake smile and scooped up Maxie to carry her to the car.

Once Dean knew where his brother and his dog were, he took a shower. He definitely needed one! Then brought out some beers, and ordered a pizza, now he was hungry. He looked at Sam when Sam came in. "What do you think you were doing?" He demanded. "Jesus, Sam! I told you to stay away from her. You want her to try and kill you again?"

"And you were supposed to check in after you left her." Sam countered. "For all I knew, you had run off with her or gone home with her. Bianca isn't exactly invulnerable, and she wasn't answering her phone either."

Dean couldn't help the smirk that spread across his face. "Well...she was...busy." He said as he drank his beer and tossed one to his brother. "Our phones weren't exactly in reach."

"You... and Bianca?" Sam asked, and shook his head. "You should have called me, Dean" He said as he sank down onto the sofa. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? I mean... fine you want to sleep with a vampire... at least it's not white court... and so long as you take that potion from Harry... it's not a problem, but you should have called."

"Dude, it was a spur of the moment thing." Dean said.. "Look, I'm sorry. But I upheld my promise, I didn't run off with Melissa. I went and got laid instead. It's not a big deal."

"Yeah, you wouldn't say that if the roles were reversed so yes it is a big deal. Damn it, Dean... it's bad enough you're tying my hands in this situation, the least you could do is remember to tell me you're okay from time to time."

"You boys want to tell me what you are arguing about?" Justin asked poking his head into the room. "Can hear your voices from down the hall."

Dean shrugged. "I slept with Bianca. I think Sam is jealous." Dean said with a grin. He'd never hidden his sexual exploits, and it was something worth bragging about, Bianca was hot. "It's nothing."

"Really?" Justin said and slid his eyes over to Sam. "Samuel?" Something was going on. It was only a question of 'when' not 'if' he'd find out.

"Yeah... no... not the jealous part... I just think it's stupid to sleep with a vampire when you have an addiction to a vampire's kiss." He said. It was a decent cover. Yeah, he wanted to tell Justin the truth, but damn it he wasnt going to betray his brother's confidence.

"I think as long as Dean keeps up with Harry's potion, he should be fine." Justin said carefully. Oh, they were hiding something. They had that look about them, like when they were boys and had pulled another prank on a staff memeber, and were hoping Justin wouldn't find out. Though he doubted it was that this time. They were too old for that. At least pranks on unsuspecting staff members, each other remained fair game.

"Absolutely." Dean said. "Choke it down every morning."

"Yeah, except this morning because you were there, not here where the potion is." Sam said, pretending to go at it again as he would if it were truly what was bothering him.

"Hate to tell you, but there was very little kissing going on." Dean said with a smirk, seeing Justin shake his head and leave the room. He exhaled in relief. "Thanks." He said to his brother, for not outing the whole situation to Justin.

Sam waited a couple of minutes hoping that would give Justin time to figure there was nothing else to hear. "Look... I know you feel the need to protect me all the time, but right now you are the one that needs protecting. You're my brother. What am I supposed to do? Sit back and do nothing?"

"Sam, I'm fine. I needed a distraction. So I went and got distracted." He said with a shrug as Maxie climbed up on his lap to steal the cheese off his pizza. "Man, I wish we had babysitters like her when we were younger. So, see? She was a very good babysitter."

Sam took a piece of pizza and sank into a seat. "Yeah well... next time let me know, okay... at least until this situation is over with." He said "She threatened to call the cops you know...it would have been funny if I hadn't been so mad at the time."

"She threatened to call the cops on you?" Dean asked, amazed. "She's got nerve. But at least she didn't do anything to you."

"I've learned a lot in the last three years, Dean. I'm not so easy to get the drop on. Relax. Besides, going after me now would be counter productive on her part."

Dean chuckled. "I get the drop on you every single time." Dean said with a pointed look. "Someone with some magical ability, one could say they might have an easier time."

"Dude, with your training you could get the drop on the secret service." Sam pointed out. "And I'm not so easy to jump magically any more. Harry has been working with me. Remember when I'm not hunting with you, I'm working with him. Considering actually going into business with him."

"You're kidding." Dean said. "Why not go into business with me?" He asked, and he didn't mean Morningway Enterprises.

"Dean... hunting isn't a business." Sam pointed out. "And nothing says I have to stop hunting with you. But you have to run the corporation and all, you arent going to be out on the road all the time. It's just not possible. I'm not ditching you. Just... gonna be a private investigator. Besides, might drum up more business for you along the way."

"It is so a business." Dean argued. "And I spend more time doing that than I do cooped up in some stupid office." He still felt like he was being ditched though, even if Sam said that he wasn't.

"Yeah ? How much money do you make doing it?" Sam asked. "And you do al ot of it locally... Dean... if you really don't want me to work with Harry okay, but come on... it's not like I'm headed off to school again. "

"You're worried about money?" Dean asked. "Dude, Justin left you stock options. That are still yours, and collecting interest every single day. If you're so worried about money, why not start collecting on some of the dividends then? How much money does Harry earn doing what he does?"

"It's not the money for me... and Harry doesn't earn enough to keep the fridge stocked AND the roof over his head most of the time. But that isn't the point. I can't just sit around and play diletant until another hunt comes up. College is prohibitive because of all the damned electronics involved. I am going out of my mind. I can't help you with the office stuff, couldn't even do mail room as a kid, remember?"

Dean sighed. "Yeah, I remember." He said shaking his head. "Fine, if it'll make you happy. I promise not to feel abandoned."

"Well, don't feel abandoned. Harry knows that if a hunt comes up I go with you. It's okay. Besides.. if I go into business with Harry I can funnel a little money his direction through the business." He added with a laugh.

Dean laughed. "God knows he could use it. Just...stick with Harry. Don't do parties. Unless they're bachelorette parties." He said with a wicked grin.

"We don't do parties... it's in the ad." Sam pointed out with a laugh. "We both have this silly notion of pulling you into it as well, you know."

"Not a chance." Dean said. "I like being free from treaties. I mean, if Bianca were to go psycho tomorrow, or more psycho than usual, you two are bound. You can't do anything. I can."

"Hence the pulling you in from time to time." He said with a shrug. "So back on the evil subject... what did you learn from your meeting with Melissa?"

"That she and Bianca really don't like each other." Dean said with a grin before turning serious. "She was taken to a semi private island. It's a good place to start I guess. That she won't lift the spell because then she figures one of us will kill her." He said and thought for a moment. "If there is a kid, and if it's my kid...can you and Harry whip up some sort of locating spell with DNA from both Melissa and I?"

"It's never been tried before, but it's a good idea. It would be easier if she had something of the child's but after three years I don't know that the connection would be very strong at all. I'll talk to Harry about the locating spell today when I head over there. " He looked at his brother for a moment. "You know... we dont need her to do it... we can find a way to break the spell if you want us to."

Dean gave his brother a look. "You really need a new topic." Dean said with a scowl. "So bring up the locating thing to Harry, and Bob. I promise I'll behave with my dog and my beer and my pizza. Sure you don't want to hear about Bianca?" He asked with a grin.

"No, I don't want to hear about Bianca. And for the record I would drop the topic if I didn't know it was the spell talking instead of you." He pointed out as he scooped up one of the puppies. "Look who is venturing out on his own now."

"They grow up so fast." Dean said with a chuckle. "Seems like just two days ago Maxie was demanding to take over my bed...oh wait. It was."

"Funny. You still get one of them you know. You have responsibilities around here." Sam said with a grin. "No running off with freakish, possessive, arrogant bitches."

Dean laughed. "Do you hear how he's talking about Maxie?" He said to his dog, scratching between her ears and starting to play with her. "I think he deserves to have some shoes eaten for that one! Calling you freakish!"

Sam gave Dean a look. "Not talking about Maxie... or Bianca." Sam pointed out. "So can I trust you to dogsit without corrupting the little things, long enough for me to go check in with Harry, and make sure Dad isn't doing something foolish?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah." He said and gave Sam his cellphone. "That's to make sure she doesn't call me, how's that?" He offered. Not that he'd leave the two puppies alone, and they weren't old enough to take with him anywhere.

"It's a start. I'll let the staff know you're not taking calls except from family." He told his brother. "I won't be long... " He didn't like leaving Dean alone but he needed to see what the others were able to find out.

"Dude, I don't need to be babysat. Need a reminder on who's the older brother?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. "I'll be fine. If I get bored, I'll go find something to kill."

"Yeah well we're both adults now. Age doesn't matter. Sometimes even big brothers need taking care of." Sam said as he started out the door. "And don't go find something to kill without calling me... or I'll wind up back at Melissa's looking for you."

"Sure thing, Mom." Dean said. "I'll eat my vegetables too. And I won't drink too much. And only G rated fare for me to keep me nice and innocent." He said.

"You haven't been innocent since you figured out girls don't really have cooties." Sam said with a laugh. "And behave."

"I'll be fine." Dean said with a roll of his eyes as he turned the TV on. Maybe later he'd train, and Maxie could train the puppies at the same time. Or do something else. His day was wide open. "Tell Dad I said hi." As much of an olive branch as he was capable of giving.

"Will do." He called out from down the hall, then stopped to tell the servants to screen the calls. That Dean had another stalker. It was true enough in a way.

He drove to Harry's first, using the cell phone the call his father.

John was enroute to another hunter's place. A hunter with more ties to the magical and Wiccan community than he had. "Hey." He said, answering the phone. "Anything new?"

"Not really. Supposedly she was taken to a private island where she gave birth and the kid was taken. Of course she refuses to take off the spell. Says we'll kill her if she does. How about on your end?"

"I'm interviewing." John said. "Whether he likes it or not, I'm getting the spell off him." John wasn't bound by the same rules as Sam and Harry. They couldn't do anything to Dean without his permission, especially Harry, as it would start to edge it all into the black, no matter how white and well intentioned the magic was.

"Good to know. Dean says hi by the way. He suggested that I talk to Harry about whether or not we could track the child with a sample from him and Melissa. I'll see about getting extra from each than needed just in case you need it for breaking the spell."

"Sounds like a plan." John said, his tone softening a bit at the olive branch his oldest had extended to him. He recognized it for what it was, they were both far too hard headed to do anything more. Especially since John wanted to smack his oldest upside that hard head of his for the whole situation. "Are we even convinced this child even exists? Private island, taken kid...sounds like the making of a bad made for TV drama."

"Sounds like a trap." Sam said with a sigh. "And no, we don't have any proof that the child really exists." He parked his car in front of Harry's shop and got out. "Too easy to use a glamour even if she had an examination done. Honestly I think it's a trap."

"Probably is. We should consider tying Dean up in the basement or something." John said. Only half kidding.

"Trust me ... the thought has crossed my mind. It's also crossed my mind to take care of the situation in other ways but then Dean would never know if the child were real or not. I don't think he could handle not knowing." He said as he entered into the office and took a seat, waving a hello to Harry.

John knew he couldn't. Not knowing what had happened to his sons for the longest time had nearly killed him. He could only imagine what was going through Dean's head. "Is he safe right now? Can't run off? Preferably drugged?" John asked as Harry waved back with a chuckle.

"He's home, gave his cell phone to me, and I told the staff to screen his calls cause he had a stalker. He is saddled with two puppies as well. So we'll see. "

John frowned. It would have to do. Though he would have preferred something a little more concrete. Like restraints. "He should be fine." He said encouragingly, more to himself. He'd been out of the picture for so long previously, he didn't know how to step in and be the authority without getting thrown out on his ass.

"So long as he has his own free will he will be fine. Even restraints and locked doors wouldnt keep him if he didn't want to be there. " Sam pointed out "But hey, I'm at the office now, so I will call to check in later. Keep me up to date if you find anything out."

"Will do." John said as he hung up. Harry laughed.

"Office?" He said. "It's the first time I've heard someone refer to this as that with a straight face." It was slightly disorganized. Papers every which way, dirty cups about. Not exactly like the image of a 'real' office, but it suited Harry.

"Yep looks like something out of an old 80s movie. The one where the guy sleeps on the sofa in his office cause he can't afford an apartment... yep.. type casting. "

Harry laughed. "Okay, caught me. I'm a cliche from the eighties. Those were good times." He said with a grin. "Not that you'd know. They were already almost half over by the time you decided to grace us with your presence."

Sam laughed. "Yeah I know. I got to miss the mullet, acid washed tight jeans, and ballon pants. Sadly I didn't get to escape mullet rock. Dean worships mullet rock."

"Your brother has problems, but we knew that." Harry said with a laugh. Dean's music tended to give him a headache after about ten minutes, though he couldn't bring himself to tell his younger cousin that.

Sam smiled a little sadly. "Yeah... currently the biggest one is Melissa." Sam filled him in on what little he had gotten out of Dean. "I suspect I will have to talk to Bianca to find out what all actually happened. Before they went back to her place and pretended they were rabbits."

Harry nearly choked on his coffee. "Wow. Um. Huh." He said, shaking his head. "An image not needed. Okay...so at least Dean was kept marginally out of trouble." He offered. "Not sure I can look at Bianca the same way..."

Sam laughed. "Yeah well... I'm having a hard time looking at Murphy the same way."

Harry grinned. "Yeah, she cleans up well." He said with pride. He and Murph weren't 'like that' or would ever be 'like that.' Which was great for the two of them. He'd come to the realization that he was a much better friend than lover, and that wasn't saying a whole lot either.

"Yeah well she isn't dating your dad." Sam laughed. "Don't give me that look, I'm not weirded out by it... just... it's a different way to look at Murph."

Harry grimaced a bit. "Hopefully Dean's little problem has stopped any sexual adventures they might have had planned."

"Oooh I just hope it never comes up. So long as the subject never comes up in conversation with me around, I don't care what they do so long as it isn't on my bed."

"Well, you're awfully picky." Harry said. "Hungry?" He said as he started to make something to eat. "So how'd the meeting with Melissa go? Besides the fact that Bianca and Dean hooked up. I mean, it could have been worse, I guess Melissa and Dean could have hooked up!"

"That's why I sent Bianca." Sam said. "Dean didn't exactly bubble forth the information. So when Bianca wakes up I am gonna see if she will spill."

Harry chuckled. "Does Bianca know you pimped her out? She's really not going to be happy with you."

"I asked her to go along and keep Dean out of trouble. If she took him home with her that has nothing to do with me." He said with a laugh.

"Hope not. Because that's disturbing." Bob said, coming out of the wall. "Your brother doesn't need help getting partners. What he needs is an assistant to make sure he's discriminating."

"Bianca is the least disturbing woman he has been with in a good long while and she is undead." Sam said. "Believe me... I know.. he wanted me to keep him from hooking up with a debutant at the fund raiser the other night."

Harry laughed. "A debutante wanting his wallet is the least of his problems." He pointed out. "Okay, so with what you managed to get out of him, what can we do?"

"He wants to know if we could use DNA samples from him and Melissa to track down this theoretical child of theirs. I want to know if we can use that to determine if one exists."

"We can try. Theorectically it should work." Harry said cautiously. "Of course, how are we going to get the DNA? Because you know if we offer to get blood from Melissa, it'll not be pretty if we do."

"I'll have Dean get it. If she wants to find that kid, she'll cooperate." He said with a sigh. "But one of us will need to be there when it happens because I don't know that she can't manage to twist things some where along the way."

"Had you told me ten years ago, Dean would be in this situation, I would have asked where you got the drugs you were smoking." Harry said with a shake of his head as he started to go through some books.

"I figured he would get some girl he picked up in a bar knocked up. Never would have figured for enthralled to a witch who can't keep track of her offspring." Sam said bitterly.

"We'll get him out of this." Harry vowed. Come hell or high water (and it probably would with his luck), they were getting Dean out of this.

"It would be a hell of a lot easier if my brother would cooperate. Half tempted to tell Justin what's going on in spite of what Dean wants. "

"That's up to you." Harry said. He had a hard time being civil to Justin, never mind confide in the man. His vote would be to leave Justin out of it, he could only make things worse. But Sam always knew his own mind.

Sam knew Justin would make it worse... at least for Melissa. And that was what part of him wanted. He wanted the woman to twist in the wind like his brother had been for the last three years. "Yeah...I know... but then I have to look Dean in the eye afterward and deal with having broken his trust."

"Yeah, that's the rub, isn't it?" Harry said. "So I guess we leave Justin out of it. Probably better anyway."

"Yeah. I know. I can't help feeling like she is getting away with it. It's not like you and Justin. That was flash of emotion, self defense... I can get that... I could even understand if it was a little more revenge than would be... seemly to admit too... but this... this was evil from the begining. Premeditated black magic to turn my brother into a slave. And she is getting away with it. Morgan didn't even admit that he hadn't killed her. I hate living in conspiracy land."

"There's something up." Harry said. "I talked to Morgan, and he was none too happy. Both at being found out and that it happened in the first place. Guy takes pride in his work after all. This goes deep."

"Then that means someone on the council is behind this." Sam said with a frown. "At least behind keeping her alive, whether they are behind the love spell or the child being taken I don't know... but it isn't too much of a stretch."

"Sadly, you're probably right. Ones on there have probably had their fingers in it all the way through." Harry said. "OKay, found one. Won't tell us where the kid is, but it will tell us if there is a kid. Of course it only works if the kid is alive, and if it's Dean's." He wasn't counting on either of those possibilities, really.

"Well that would solve half the problem at least. We'd at least know if he has a kid out there. If not, then we deal with the bitch and get it over and done with."

"If not, Dean might kill her himself." Harry pointed out. "She'd be putting him through the wringer for nothing, and your brother does have a breaking point."

"Yeah, we can't let him do that." Sam said. "That would screw with his head big time. Not just because he loves her or thinks he does at this point."

"But because, like it or not, she's still a human being." Harry said. "Though I think it's a little debatable, but he's accused me of having blurred morals anyway."

"If there is no child... I'm taking her head myself." Sam said. "If Morgan can't do it, apparently someone else needs to," He grumbled. He hated her. For the first time in his life he actually hated another human being. He didn't like the feeling. Not one little bit. He pulled out the cell phone and dialed the house. "Hey, Martha, it's Samuel. I need to talk to Dean."

"Oh it's good you called. He's climbing the walls." Martha clucked in a motherly tone. Really the only tone she had. "Whoever this latest stalker is, she's got him wound up."

"Yeah she does, thanks for looking after him, Martha. I appreciate it."

"Not a problem." She said as she walked the phone to Dean.

"Dude, I said I'd stay put." He said with a scowl. Though he never responded well to forced confinement, and this felt like forced confinement. No matter how big the house, how spacious the rooms, he felt like they were closing down on him by the minute.

"That's not why I'm calling. I talked to Harry. He hasn't found anything that would let us track the kid with DNA, but he has found a way that we can make sure the child exists, or is alive at least. Why don't you come on over here and we'll call her from here."

"Yeah, because she's going to go to Harry's, right?" Dean said, and Sam could almost hear his big brother's eyes rolling. "You want DNA, I'll get DNA."

"Yeah and the last time you two swapped DNA in private, you ended up enslaved." Sam said sharply. "No... she can come here or we can all go there... together. Not having you alone with her and Bianca is unavailable."

"That's going to go over well. Hold on, and don't say a word. I don't care what she says that pisses you off, don't say a word." He said as he transferred the call to his office phone, called Melissa and transferred her in. "Hey." He said when she picked up. "I need some DNA. Seriously. How do you want to do this?"

"DNA?" She asked. "What do you want DNA for? Not complaining, but wow, that's quite a conversation starter." She didn't trust it one bit. Probably some new scam by his brother to try and break the spell.

"To see if we can track the kid, or at least figure out if it's alive." He said. And determine if it existed at all.

"Oh god... you don't think they would..." She sank into a chair. "I... how do you need to collect it?"

"Blood is best." Dean said. "And yeah, I think they would. I mean, what haven't they done so far? Whoever they are. Oh wait, you're included in 'they' aren't you, by default at least."

"Is this another excuse to get a dig in, Dean? Here I thought you had your tramp around for that sort of thing. Vamp, tramp it's all so similar. "

"Leave Bianca out of it." Dean said. "Hey, you're the one that pulled out all the stops to get pregnant by me. So why wouldn't I assume that you're working with them in some capacity? I mean, there is that matter of the spell and all. Witch, bitch, it's all so similiar."

"This is what you say when you love me. And you wonder why I wont undo the spell. Think about it. I have a survival instinct you know. I'll go to where they are doing the spell. I want to see the results first hand. "

"You were going to kill my brother. My brother, who I would give my life for. And frame my cousin for it. And you want me to think warm and fuzzy feelings about that?" Dean demanded. "If you were smart, you would have kissed their asses and kept us all one happy family, but it's always been about what you want. All the spells in the world, and all the love in the world will not negate that fact, Melissa."

"Doesn't change how things are, Dean. Or give me any reason to think you people wouldn't kill me and have done with out the side effects it would have on you. I appreciate the honesty, but I have no desire to die and have my child raised in the Morningway tradition without me. Now...where do we meet to draw this blood and find out if our child is still alive."

Dean shook his head. "Harry's. In an hour." He said and hung up on Melissa and kept Sam on the line. "Great self restraint there, little brother." He said with a chuckle.

"It was nearing the breaking point." Sam said through clenched teeth. "Not a bad plan she had... could still do it you know... that whole getting rid of her and finding the kid on our own if it exists."

"Don't start, Sam." Dean said. "She's human." He had very distinct lines. And Melissa was human,he'd never agreed with the whole beheading thing Morgan liked to do, even before Melissa.

"She is a black sorceress, and they don't reform. This wasn't something done in the heat of emotion or for self defense. It was a plotted and planned evil. That has consequences... even in the mundane world that has consequences."

"Well this isn't the mundane world, is it?" Dean said. "So I'll head over to Harry's, I'll see you soon."

"See you soon." Sam said and hung up. Of course it wasn't the mundane world, in the mundane world she would get a trial, and her execution would finally happen 20 years in the future. It didn't work that way in their world, it couldn't. Dean couldn't understand that. Not really.

Dean let himself into Harry's, he was expected after all. "Any chance this will work, or you just jumping on a chance to get some of her blood?"

"There is a chance it would work." Harry said. "If all I wanted was her blood, I wouldn't need to let you know what was going on." He pointed out with a shrug.

Sam frowned. "Look ... if it turns out there is no child... I want you to leave... don't touch her. Don't look at her, don't say a word to her... just leave."

"I'll be fine, Sam." Dean said as he grabbed a beer out of the fridge. "But fine, I'll leave. I won't touch her. Might punch out a wall on the way out...so Harry, you got a good drywaller on speed dial, right?" If not, Dean did. Wouldn't be the first time he'd punched a wall.

"Don't worry about the dry wall. Been wanting to see what the brick underneath looks like anyway." He said.

Melissa arrived on the hour and entered the office. "Okay... what is it you need me to do?"

"Pop a gusher." Harry said. "But I'll settle for getting blood out of a finger. " He said as he led the way back into the make shift lab he had set up in his kitchen. He had no intentions of taking her down stairs into the actual lab.

"Look at that, Harry's playing nice." Dean said with an attempt at laughter as he took the knife and pricked his finger, letting it drip where Harry indicated. Then he sat back, arms folded across his chest and waited. This would either turn out good, or very very bad.

Sam remained silent, his hand clutching the ornate wand in his pocket. He had no faith in the existance of the child. In fact he hoped there wasn't. Desperately hoped there wasn't.

Harry waited for her to comply. as well. "If there is a child the crystal will turn blue. If not... it stays clear. I swear this spell must be where EPT got the idea." He said as he started the ritual, adding things to the pot. "Thing is... all I can prove with this is if there is a child produced by the two of you that is alive. I can't prove whether or not she got knocked up in the first place."

"Duly noted." Dean said as he watched. His eyes were riveted on the crystal. The nice clear crystal. So clear you could see through it. Not blue in the slightest. And without a word he got up and left.

Melissa paled, then began to tremble violently as she looked at the crystal, tears welled in her eyes and spilled out uncontrollably as she sank to the floor and sobbed wretchedly. Her son was dead. They had taken him from her forever. She didn't care about anything else in that moment. Didn't care that Dean had left the room, or that the other two men were standing there staring at her. She didn't even notice Sam pulling the wand from his pocket. Wouldn't have cared if she had.

Harry double checked, just to make sure. He'd done it correctly. And the crystal was clear. So he triple checked, to make sure. Because he never knew what to do with crying women. And Melissa was sobbing all over his floor, as much as he detested her very existance, he still felt bad for her. He wasn't sure what the result actually said, but she was obviously expecting to turn blue. He looked at Sam uncertainly and motioned for the younger man to put the wand away. "Well, at least we know one way or another." He said. Either way, now there was no child. Either it had never existed, or it didn't exist now.

"They killed him." She managed to get out. "He was just a little boy." She said her dark eyes focused on the floor, hands clenched tightly. She sobbed so hard that her body was wracked with the force of them. "Ohh this is not over." She breathed softly, intensely.

Sam looked to Harry in horror. He found himself believing her. Even though he didn't want to. "Who?" He asked simply.

"You know who." She said darkly, in between sobs.

"Magnus." Harry supplied, shaking his head. Not a light weight wizard. "Well that puts us up shit creek without a paddle."

"Why the hell would he want to... I don't understand it." Sam said.

"You're such a naive little boy." She said getting to her feet and wiping at her tears, even though they refused to stop falling. "You think I'm the big bad in the world... when you're a card holding member of the biggest black coven in existence." She picked up her jacket and purse with trembling hands. "Why do you think they were so lenient on Harry? Because they wanted Morningway dead. He was a threat because he was uncontrollable. Because he knew what they were and was uncontrollable. " She took two steps toward the door then her body arched back ward and she screamed, this time in pain as the spell was severed.

Harry went immediately on the defensive and grabbed his hockey stick, activating his defenses. That wasn't an emotional scream, that was a physical pain scream, and in light of everything else, he wasn't taking chances.

"Uncle Justin talked of remaking the council, sloughing off the dead skin he called it. Magnus was on his list, I knew that. I thought he was just making contingency plans, he was known for that. He never let on about any of this." He said to Sam.

"So was Ancient Mei." Sam said with a frown. "Wasn't always in bed when I was supposed to be. Who else was on the list though? Those two... together they could wipe the floor with the rest of the council." He knew he should check on the woman but he couldn't bring himself to touch her. After all she had put his brother though, he couldn't do it.

"A few others. Really inconsequential though. No power or no discipline." Harry said as he watched Melissa. Then finally he did it. "Melissa...you okay? What is it?"

She laughed a little then. "Was it part of your spell, break my heart then break the spell over him? Well congratulations. It worked." She said not even bothering to grace the question with a direct answer. She would never be okay again. Her child was dead... what woman could be okay after that.

"What?" Harry asked, confused. "We didn't break the spell. We were trying to figure out how to do it without his permission, sure, but we hadn't figured out how. Wasn't us. You stood there and saw exactly what we did."

"Well, then Dean either miraculously broke the spell on his own, or someone else figured out how to do it without asking. Probably Justin." She said bitterly. "Congratulations." She said. "Good day for you all around. Stay clear of me from here on out."

"Stay clear of you? Lady, you were the one who insinuated yourself into our lives when you went after Dean." Harry said, through attempting to be nice and polite.

"You know what I mean." She said as she started to walk out the door. She knew full well why they hadn't tried to kill her yet, and that reason was gone... just like her son... gone in an instant. "I'd watch my back if I were you. " She said with a pause. "If they killed my child, then you two aren't far up the list. Just a ... friendly warning." And with that she left.

Harry looked at Sam. "You go find Dean. I'm going to go talk to Justin. Because if Justin was behind this, it doesn't make me feel any better." That left Dean far too vulnerable. And if Dean was vulnerable, that gave Justin a way to get at himself and Sam.

"I'm on it." Sam said as he headed out the door, only to be knocked to the ground as a bolt of lightening struck a car just pulling away from the curb. There was no doubt in his mind who had been in that car. Or that the source wasn't natural. A car would be grounded against natural lightning.

Harry came out when he saw the flash and helped Sam up. "What in Hades?" He said, looking at the burning car. Or what was left of the burning car. There wasn't much. "I'm going to call 911." It was a fire after all.

"They knew... killed her cause the spell was broken." Sam said as he caught his breath. "I gotta get to Dean." He said worriedly and pulled out his cell phone and called his brother, hoping the man was at home, as he pulled away from Harry to make his way toward his own car.

Dean answered, the background noise of a bar audible. "What?" He asked. "Dude, I'm fine. Can't I unwind without my baby brother trying to act like my mother? I'm not anywhere near Melissa, and I don't want to be."

"Dude... she's dead... no I didn't do it. But I don't think you're safe. Where are you? I'll come have a couple with you and explain what happened."

"Uh, yeah. You better come explain what happened." Dean said. "I'm at McGreevey's. I'll have a beer waiting for the explanation."

"On my way." Sam said and hung up then hurried through traffic toward the bar. "Crap." He said and dialed Harry's office hoping he was inside again.

Harry had just gotten off the phone, calling the fire department to put out the fire. Still a little shocked from it all. "Hello?" He said and recognized Sam. "What's up? You find Dean?"

"Yeah, but get the hell out of there before they send Morgan. You're a great scape goat to cover up the council's dirty work. Go. Grab Bob and go."

"I'm pwerful, Sam. But I'm not that powerful. Not for that kind of targeted blast." Harry said. "Besides, where would I go that Morgan couldn't follow me? That I could stay until this blew over? Which will be never."

"Just be careful. I get the feeling we're all going to be targets soon. Not just from what she said either. This is just beginning. Dean might be free but this is beginning."

"I'll be careful. I don't have death wish, believe it or not." Harry said, chuckling. "Same goes for you. You're right, it's just beginning."

"Yep, right now I am gonna corral Dean over at the bar, you go and make sure Justin wasn't behind any of this. Although to be honest I don't think he had anything to do with that lightening bolt. He's been keeping a low profile."

"So that leaves two other options. Your dad found a loophole, or Dean did it himself, and I've never heard of any such thing." Harry said. "Then again, even if it had happened before, it's not like other wizards would admit it anyway."

"No kidding. I'll call Dad after I talk to Dean. He's gonna want to have the full story when I contact him. I'm parking the car now, so I'm gonna go. Call me if you find anything out."

"Will do." Harry said as he hung up the phone to head over to his uncle's. Dean looked up at Sam as he entered the bar.

"So she's dead, huh?" Dean said, rather flatly. He was still pissed at the woman, but the strong emotions weren't there any more.'

Sam nodded. "Murdered. Bolt of lightening that miraculously decimated her car, and ... her. Harry is dealing with it." He didn't know if it would be wise to tell him the rest of it. The fact that she had broken down before because the child was apparently dead not non-existant. Would it really do his brother any good? Probably quite the opposite.

"Did I do it?' Dean asked over his beer. "I was so freaking angry, I felt something snap in my head. I have a killer headache right now, but when I think ofher, I don't feel anything. So I gues,...did I break the spell?"

"I think so." Sam said softly. "You know... I've never heard of that happening before. Not sure I'd want it getting around." He chuckled softly. "Have this image of wizards coming around to see if you can break their spells. " He shook his head. "You okay otherwise though?"

"You know, I am." Dean said. "Not sure if there is a kid, or if the kid is dead now, but there's not much I can do about it either way. Especially since the one link I had is dead and all. Just going to make peace with whatever option, and invest more heavily in trojan stock."

"Sounds like a plan." He said and sighed. "I uhm... I mean... what good would it do to worry about what was actually the case right?" If his brother knew he had a son and that son was dead, it would be like recreating their father. Sam didn't want that for Dean.

"Sam, she was a lying manipulative bitch. Sure, she was hot and great in the sack, but that doesn't negate the first part of what I said." Dean said as he drank his beer. "There is no other option. She made it up to get at me."

Sam bit his tongue. He would keep the secret. It would only hurt Dean. He could seek revenge in his place. It was the least he could do for his brother. Sometimes, just sometimes, things were better left unsaid. "Yeah. Someone knew that the spell was broken, I think that's why she was killed. So we still need to be careful."

"I'll be fine." Dean said with a shrug. "I'm just to blame for the death of a human being is all. Either way you look at it, I am, so don't start. Not that the alternative was any better, but still."

"Maybe either way you look at it, me I tend to see it as the person that killed her is responsible." Sam said. "But I'll deal with that. It's a council thing anyway... Harry is making sure it isn't Uncle Justin. But I don't think it is. I think it's one of our unscrupulous council members."

"Why don't you start with the list of scrupulous council members? Bet the list would be shorter." Dean pointed out. It was a political body after all.

"Ouch." Sam said with a chuckle, he was after all a council member. "Oh probably me and Merlin are the only ones you could claim for a certainty. There are some worse than others however. "

"So break out the waterboard and get the truth." Dean said with a chuckle. "Works for the president."

Sam hmphed at that. "I'm not a politician. I doubt I could justify it to myself in the morning."

"Good. The waterboard is on back order anyway." Dean said. "So I guess you're back to questioning in an round about way and trying to ferret out the truth."

"Yep, standard operational proceedure." He said with a sigh. "Although I doubt I am going to get much of anywhere being close to the situation after all. "

"Okay, so we bring in someone outside the situation. Harry?" Dean suggested.

"Harry isn't outside the situation, Dean." Sam said. "He's family. Don't worry. I'll sort it out." And he would too. This was just one more reason to start the coup on the council.

"That leaves me and Dad. We're family, but we're not wizards." He pointed out. "And I'm going to worry. Because now they're killing people who step over the line."

"Dean... we have plans to deal with them anyway, remember? It's just something we need to press for other reasons too. Besides, I have no proof it was one of them yet. "

"Okay. Sure. It was someone else." Dean said doubtfully. "Completely off the council's radar. I'll buy that. After a few more drinks."

"I didn't say it was, I just said I couldn't prove that it wasn't." Sam pointed out. "And the last thing either of us need is to wind up being on that whole hunted and hated list right now. So I need proof."

"I'm on the hated list I believe." Dean said with a laugh. "Could still use a couple more drinks. You can join me any time, little brother. Okay, so I guess we should call Dad and call him off the chase to break the spell."

"Yeah I'll call him later. Talked to him earlier and he is on the road. Let him get a night's sleep." Sam said and called the waitress over to order a beer.

"Dad doesn't get good night's sleep." Dean said as he put in an order for food. "But sure, we'll wait until morning. Any sleep he manages to get would be good."

"Yeah, I agree. Same goes for you, ya know." He said pointedly.

"I sleep. I slept last night, for like an hour." Dean said, pointedly. "I just don't require as much sleep as some people. When I get tired, I sleep. When I'm not, I don't."

"Liar." Sam said. "You still need as much as everyone else. some where between 5 and 8 hours, just like every one else. "

"Dude, I'm so going to beat the shit out of you. I get my sleep when I get my sleep." Sometimes, especially after a hunt, he'd crash for a full twenty four hours. It all evened out, right? "The only reason you've been getting any sleep is because I've been doping you up, so you shouldn't talk, kettle."

"Great... now I have to watch where I set my drinks down at home too." He said rolling his eyes. "Dean, when you get stressed you don't sleep. And when you don't sleep, you turn into Dad."

"Well, hey, if I drug your drink, you know it's not to take advantage of you, rob you or take your kidneys. And I do not." He said as he refrained from scowling by drinking. He and their father were two completely different people. Completely.

"Right... that whole you're right by virtue of age alone thing, the ability to make everyone with a gun within 20 miles of you want to shoot you... an idiotic idea that I am still two years of age that neither of you seem to be willing to give up on even on a good day..."

"Okay, the part where I'm always right? That's a god given gift for all older brothers. It's in the manual." Dean said. "People want to shoot Harry too. And my secretary. And I want to shoot my lawyers half the time. And give me a break, I stopped tying your shoes a long time ago." He said with a laugh.

Sam laughed. "Still... you and Dad have a lot in common when you are stressed. You know... when the social skills slide off your cracker along with the cheese. "

"Pot, kettle, black." Dean said in sing song voice. Sam was known to have his moments also. "Must be genetic." Couldn't be environmental. "Which means we're screwed."

"That's the one." Sam said with a laugh. He had their father's temper. Dean had his frustration level, and the insane need to control the world around him.

"Yup, we're screwed. Oh well." He said. "Not much we can do about it now, can't exactly choose a father with a better disposition to pass some calmer genes onto us."

"'forget we have those pesky Morningway genes as well. We've got it coming and going. " Sam said with a sigh. Genetics. The implication was that this whole nightmare had begun as a genetics experiment with Morningway genes.

Dean shook his head. "Think this was all a genetic experiment from the start?" Dean asked. "I don't mean Melissa. I mean me, you, Harry..."

"I ... Dean... I don't know." He said. "It's possible. I mean... everyone that knew mom when she was pregnant with me is dead...but I don't know." Their parents had fallen in love at a gas station... a momentary meeting and they had bonded in a fairy tale way. "What would anyone have to gain by merging Winchesters and Morningways?"

"Why did they decide to breed tigers and lions? Because they could." Dean pointed out.

"Yeah but only one lived." Sam pointed out. "They didn't exactly get anything out of it other than a curiosity for a zoo."

"Well, we're curiosities too." Dean pointed out. "Just read a magazine. I'm just...I don't know, man. This whole idea has be disgusted, angry, makes me nearly want to do something stupid."

"Don't do it." Sam said. "Please. We'll sort it out and do something about it but don't do something stupid."

"I'll behave. I've done damned good so far behaving." Dean pointed out. "Nothing wildly stupid, didn't take off with Melissa, stayed for the most part out of Council politics..."

"I know. " Sam said, "But every man has his limits. I just want to make sure we haven't reached yours yet. " He would understand if they had crossed it, but he hoped not. He didn't know how much protection they could give Dean if he made the wrong enemies.

"Sam, I'm fine." Dean said. "And if I do something, I'll make sure it can't be connected to you. Not hard when I'm already the black sheep." He said with a quick grin, being the only non magical one and all.

"I'm not worried about it being connected to me. I'm worried about it being connected to you."

"I hope it is." Dean said. "Because I'm the most invulnerable out of all of us. I'm not a wizard, I'm not really part of their world. Their rules don't apply to me, and if they try to apply their punishments to me, that's opening up a Pandora's Box they'd rather keep closed."

"Let's just not go there right now. The council isn't exactly abiding its own rules right now. Let's not see how far they are willing to go " Sam knew that he was a dolphin swimming in a school of sharks. He had no illusions of what he was involved in. Although he wasn't sure Dean really had a firm grasp on the situation.


	17. Chapter 17

Authors' Note: Sorry for the long wait, life gets like that! Anyway, a lot of exposition in this chapter, but it's all important later on. Keep those reviews coming, they keep us motivated!

He was trying. He wasn't the enemy, no matter what the boys might think.

Boys. It was funny, the way the mind worked. He would always think of Harry, Dean and Samuel as 'boys'. No matter how old they got. They would always be the boys he brought to live in his house with him. And he had done right by them, far better than their fathers would have done. And with the end game starting to come into focus, the ends justified the means.

Harry would have been on a cruise ship, wasting his life.

Dean, most likely he would have been in jail. At the very least on the run from the authorities.

Samuel, he would have wasted his potential running with his brother no doubt. And becoming deadly in spite of himself because of that.

He'd taken them into his house, under his wing, and he had fortified quite the force. Harry was a wizard of immense raw power. Amazing, really. Dean, he could take out a whole squadron of special force soldiers and still have energy for a beer and (knowing his nephew) casual sex with at least one person, maybe two. Sam....well....Sam was different.

Justin had regained his seat. They had no choice. He'd been punished for black magic with his death. And they couldn't prove he was behind his resurrection no matter how hard they tried. And they did. What surprised him, and warmed his heart truth be told, was that his nephews had never revealed to the council about his doppelganger. Sometimes, blood truly was thicker than water.

And with his reappointment to the council, in his own devious ways, he'd learned so much more about the scheme of things. Things he wouldn't have even known about were it not for that Melissa, the woman who had nearly destroyed Dean. Breeding projects, breeding lines.....he himself was childless, and had managed not to marry. But his sisters....those poor excuses for husbands....he wondered how much of it was truly fate and star crossed and how much of it was just moving pawns across the board.

"You look lost in thought." Sam said as he entered the lab, having watched his uncle for several minutes from the door. "Anything I can help with?" He asked. In spite of himself he loved Justin. just as he loved his father.

"Hmm?" Justin asked, slowly turning around. He had been lost in thought. He hadn't heard Sam approach. "No, no. I was just thinking. Something older men do from time to time." He said with a quick smile. "Much to our detriment, I'm afraid. For that leads to over thinking. And over thinking leads to over examination of the obvious."

Sam smiled a little as he moved closer. "So what is it you are over examining?" He asked. He knew that look. It seemed all the men in the family wore that look when they were mulling over something important. Very important.

"Whoever is behind this merging of lines targeted Dean. He's the most vulnerable out of us." Justin mused. "I was just over examining whether or not they're done with him, or if it's something we have to investigate and take care of now." Oh it would be taken care of, Justin was wondering if it could be put on the back burner. Because his self control couldn't be trusted, with the implication that his beloved sisters might have been, or were, used as breeding pawns.

"I haven't told Dean that part. Or that the child was real... and apparently dead." Sam said. "I didn't see what good would come of it. He was already so ragged..." Sam shook his head. "Before she was murdered, she said that Dean wasn't the only one... that Harry and I needed to watch our backs too... do you know what she was talking about?"

"Obviously the Morningway line is highly valued by these people. That leaves you and Harry quite vulnerable to the same fate that befell your brother." Justin said, though he was surprised that the information was kept from Dean. By Sam of all people. Not that he didn't agree with it, he did. But were he to have suggested it, Sam probably would have been quite indignant. There was hope for Sam yet. "Someone wants to merge with our line, and they'll do whatever it takes to do so."

"I suspect someone wants to create something out of our line. I don't think who ever is behind this wants to produce Morningway kin... I think they want to produce Morningway pawns. To create something... someone... powerful... breeding programs take generations with animals, can't imagine it's different with people... so it's either a long term breeding program ala Dune, or a very old magus behind it."

"Or both." Justin admitted. "It could very well be both. It pulls into perspective a lot of things that have gone on in this family, doesn't it? Though I can hardly believe that this breeding program saw anything special or worthy in Harry's father, an argument could be made--not by me---about your own father. And my mother. My grandmother. They all offered something very special and particular to anyone wishing to manipulate a lineage."

"I don't know how long the Morningways have been involved in the program. They could have been added in later... But... there was something Dad said a while back... about everyone he and Mom had known... anyone involved in when she was pregnant with me is ... well...dead."

"Your brother noticed the same thing." Justin said. "It can't be a coincidence." Maybe this program would do him a favor and finish off John Winchester after he had served his purpose. If he hadn't already by fathering De an and Sam. "It's something to look into. Along with everything else."

"It is... What do you know about Magnus?" Right then Sam needed an actual ally on the council. He needed someone he could trust to have his back. And no matter what else he could or couldn't trust about Justin, he could trust the man wouldn't throw him to the wolves. He honestly did care. That didn't mean Sam trusted him. Didn't mean he would forgive him for the attempt on Harry in order to come back. Murdering Harry's father was a black mark against Justin as well, even though Sam was grateful such extremes had not been used on their own father... there were still scars from that treachery as well.

"Magnus isn't someone anyone confronts without at least three options." Justin said. "He's carefully thought out every step he takes every single day, any of his plans would be intricate, with back ups already in place. He's ruthless, more so than even me."

"He's the only one powerful enough to head up this sort of maneuvering. Merlin... I honestly think he is the only real good guy on the entire council, Mei... this is beneath her notice. Too messy."

"I agree." Justin said. "Be careful with Magnus. Until we have more information and a plan in place, I want you to steer clear of him." He wanted all his nephews to steer clear of him.

Sam nodded. "I have no desire to wind up an ozone scented pile of slag on the road." He stated. "They have Morgan towing their line, who ever all is involved, otherwise the bitch wouldn't have survived long enough to find out she was pregnant much less provide them with a child. She knew the gender of the child. Called it her son when the shock of finding out it was dead struck. Which tells me they took it..him.... later rather than sooner. Either it wasn't what they were after or... or they are closing up shop on this project and wiping out evidence."

"And that's what I fear. I don't know how far reaching their clean up will be, or how far back this goes. Too many unanswered questions. Far too many unanswered questions, and no one really to ask."

"And is this all going to tie in with the sepulchers? I have a feeling we need to move quickly on that once my father gets back." Sam said. "And under no circumstance do we tell either of them that Magnus or any other council member might be involved in all of this. Neither of them will be able to step back from it enough not to do something stupid."

"I agree." Justin said. "We'll keep John and Dean busy with training, I'm sure Dean could show John a thing or two." As mortal, non magical men, what they could bring to the fight physically and weapon wise had to be refined and built upon. He had no doubts about Dean, he'd been training for this since before he was a teenager.

"I could show him what?" Dean asked, coming into the room, trailed faithfully by Max.

"Oh Justin was just thinking he could use some brushing up on his skills before we go and do something like take on the council to get the remaining sepulchers."

"Not a bad idea." Dean said cautiously. "This is different from hunting." In hunting there was a line that was rarely crossed. Hurting humans. But the council was human. They had to be dealt with differently.

"And it's different than war." Sam pointed out as well. Their father knew how to fight a war, he knew how to fight monsters, wizards were a breed apart. And these were the elite amongst wizard kind. They lost this maneuver, they would all be dead.

"I'll ask him what he thinks about it." Dean said with a shrug. He and John had floated back to civil. This was one of those things that would mend or break, by Dean's thoughts.

Sam nodded. "So," he said wanting to change the subject far from what he and Justin had actually been talking about, "I think we can start the pups on soft food now, what do you think?" He asked.

"Good idea." Dean said as Justin gave a small benevolent smile. The boys always could switch gears fast. "Maybe I can sleep through the night then. Else they can go with you for once."

"I had them with me more than once, jerk. Besides, they were there to keep you out of trouble, remember."

"And I understand they've done a superb job." Justin said approvingly. After all, Dean was given Max when he was young for that same sole reason. Of course, later, he'd trained Max to be part of the trouble he was usually looking for, but for a short time it had worked. His nephew was a 'sucker', as the kids say, for dogs.

"You two make it sound like I'm some sort of trouble magnet." Dean said.

"You are." They both said in unison and Justin chuckled softly.

"More to the point," he added, "you refuse to rest after you have found what ever trouble you attracted to yourself."

"No, I don't follow your time table for rest. Big difference." Dean said. "So I'm going to meet Harry for lunch at a bar, then I'll talk to Dad."

"Okay. " Sam said. "I'll be here when you get back. You know... council... stuff... " He didn't like keeping secrets from Dean. He wasn't any good at it in the first place and it always made him feel about two inches tall.

"Sounds boring." Dean quipped as he picked Max up. "See you two later. Going to put Maxie in the backyard with the puppies," who were starting to run around, "they should be fine."

"Oh yeah. I'll check in on them later." Sam said. "Tell Harry I'll be around later. " He was glad Dean was going to be gone for most of the day. He and Justin had a lot of work to do if they were going to succeed.

"Will do." Dean said as he let the dogs out into the backyard and set up a big bowl of water for them. Then headed over to Harry's place, letting himself in. "Harry?" He said as he entered. "Thought I'd meet you here, let you drive in a car that's not going to fall apart if you take a corner too fast." He said with a laugh about the Blue Beetle.

Harry looked up. "Dean, hi... ahm... yeah... let's go." He said glancing nervously over at the guest room door. He didn't want to have to deal with introducing the two of them before he had given Dean a heads up.

"You okay?" Dean asked. Harry was acting...weird.

"We have guests?" Thomas asked, coming out wearing hardly anything at all and Dean's eyes widened as he looked at Harry. Well that was certainly a surprise. He'd never taken Harry for that kind of guy, the kind of guy who dug other guys.

Harry sighed. "I ...well... we... have family over... I think you need to sit down for this one Dean." Harry said in resignation as he went to get a couple of beers. "And for crying out loud put some clothes on."

Thomas pouted. He actually pouted. "You don't have to yell." Thomas said and went back into the room and threw on a running suit. Promptly coming out and shaking Dean's hand rather forcefully. "I'm Thomas. Harry, tell him the rest."

"Okay, so he's not your secret gay lover?" Dean asked.

Harry choked on the beer he had just opened. "No, he's not. Ahm... it seems that my mother... had ahm... been involved with someone before my father... a member of the white court... Thomas is white court... and my brother. Thomas, this is your cousin, Dean Winchester."

"Definitely not your secret gay lover." Dean said, blinking. "Dude, seriously? Does Justin know? Did my mom know? My mom had to have known, right? I mean, you can't just hide a kid, right? So Justin knew."

"Our mother was good at hiding." Thomas said with a shrug. "It's possible they don't know. Winchester. Here I was hoping it was just a rumor you were related to hunters." He said to Harry.

"Makes you related to hunters too." Dean said with a smirk.

"I don't think Justin knew. He would have found some way to take Thomas from his father as well. If any one could have, it was Justin." He knew his uncle was obsessed with his sisters' children.

"Well, then, that makes you the one that got away." Dean said, toasting Thomas with his beer.

"Maybe that wasn't such a good thing." He had his own issues with his father. Like the fact that he was the only son left. That was a big issue, considering he wasn't the only son born.

"Yeah, seems I'm the only one that doesn't have father issues." Harry stated. "But that's neither here nor there. Had actually planned on telling you the story over lunch. But well... here it is. "

"I don't have father issues." Dean said. "And yeah, there it is. Doesn't the council have a treaty with White Court?"

"It's not that strong." Thomas said. "It's more of a cease fire."

"The white court is hard to pin down, most have a really hard time resisting one of them, they usually wind up with the upper hand in any deal you make with them." Harry said as he took a seat and a long draw off of his beer.

"Huh." Dean said in response. He knew about all the courts, that had been part of the education Justin had given him. "So what's this mean? He moved in here? Aren't white court loaded?"

"Sure, if they still talk to you." Thomas pointed out. "When they don't you end up broke. Trust me. It sucks."

"Thomas here, has a father that likes to do in his sons. And a sister that's pissed off that I wouldn't let her kill me." Harry said with a shrug. "All around dysfunctional as hell family."

"Oh, so situation normal for us then." Dean pointed out.

"I think I have you beat." Thomas said.

"Wanna bet on that?"

"Okay boys, let's not pull out the dysfunctional daddy sticks to be measured okay? Because neither of you want my two cents worth. " Harry said shaking his head.

"Fine." Dean said with a laugh as he drank his beer. "Killjoy. So you've got a blood sucker living here. How does that work? I mean, does he get to taste the clientele after they pay?"

"Only if they short him." Thomas said with a grin.

Harry gave them both a look. "It doesn't work the same way as with Bianca... he ... feeds differently. And it's just as addictive. So no he doesn't get to taste the clientele. He actually gets to go and find himself a job since he eats more than Mouse and has scared off my housekeepers."

Thomas pouted again. "He's such a task master." He said with a role of his eyes.

"That's Harry." Dean said. "So Justin and Sam are holed up in the lab, should I be worried?" /P

"Don't know... I wouldn't worry too much. Sam is pretty centered in who he is. Justin won't sway him much." Harry said, he knew that Sam needed Justin as an ally against Magnus, but wasn't going to bring that up now. Too much was still too raw with Dean to go into details, and Dean would want details.

"I'll try not to worry too much." Dean said with a laugh. "Come on, let's get to the bar. Game's almost on. Just don't get too close, okay?" He teased Harry.

"Nice... we'll be sitting in the far back corner of the bar. " Harry said shaking his head. Only Dean would want to take Harry some place where he could fritz out the entire system

"Dude, I'm not betting on the game. I don't care if I watch it. I'm betting on the people betting on the game." He said with a laugh. "Much more fun."

Harry laughed then. "Alright then, I guess we're going to the sports bar. We can place bets on who freaks out the most when the tv actually does fritz out."

"Hey, even better. Just try to time it right before they do a big play." Dean said with a laugh. Thomas came too, though not explicitly invited and gaped at Dean's car.

"It's old." He said.

"Excuse me?"

"Your car. I know all about the Morningways. I know you're loaded. Couldn't you buy something, I don't know, a little more....modern?"

"Harry..." Dean said, giving Harry a look. This was his baby Thomas was smack talking about.

"It's a classic..." Harry said. "And Dean's girlfriend, so be nice." He told his new found brother. The last thing he needed was a brawl over the car.

"Girlfriend?" Thomas asked, not entirely sure if Harry was joking as he opened up the backdoor.

"Dude, don't start." Dean said. "Respect the car or walk."

"See what I mean?" Harry said. "And he's serious by the way. Besides... it's one of the few cars I can get in without worrying about killing it."

"Kill this car? Dude, nothing can kill this car." Dean said, letting his mood lighten as he started driving toward the sports bar. "So Thomas is staying with you? I've gotta give Dad a heads up." He flicked his eyes up toward the rear view mirror and glanced at Thomas. "Him and vampires, well, he's been attacked enough by all sorts that it's just wise to give the old man a heads up. Then I'll get him going in a different direction by telling him about Bianca."

"He goes all hot headed after Bianca, she might decide he's the latest mouse to her cat." Harry pointed out. "But yeah, Thomas is staying with me. The least I could do since he got disinherited and disowned for saving my life. Almost got himself dead in the process too. "

"I'm blaming Bianca on Sam. He was the one that asked her to keep me distracted, right? Well, she did." Dean said with an impish smirk. "Jury's still out on Thomas, but I won't kill him, how's that?" He joked.

"Why thank you." Thomas said. "I am, after all, your cousin."

Harry laughed at that. "Yeah we got quite the family going on here." He thought it was probably enough to send most people to the nut hatch. But they managed well enough.

"We've got the weirdest family." Dean said as he drove. "The most normal one is Max."

"Max?" Thomas asked. "Another cousin?"

"Max is his dog. A little pug that thinks she is the size of Mouse and can eat almost as much if she isn't playing at being finicky." Harry said with a chuckle. "She is also the only female that will tolerate Dean in the long term. Sam and I are debating if he is cheating on the car with the pug or cheating on the pug with the car."

"Max is a ferocious bundle of canine fury, don't ever forget that." Dean said with a laugh. "And I tolerate lots of females. I even like some of them in the long term. Just because I'm a speed dater doesn't mean I don't tolerate women. I love women."

"Speed dating is fun." Thomas said with a nod. "Not that Harry is Mr Commitment either."

"I didn't say you didn't tolerate them, I said they don't tolerate you." Harry pointed out jokingly. "What self respecting woman is going to let her self fall into a 4th place spot after a brother, a car and a dog?"

"Oh I'm sure she's out there." Dean said with a laugh. "Until then, I'll have fun sorting through them all."

"And here I thought it was the white court in me that made me the way I am." Thomas said. "Perhaps it's the Morningway?"

"You are a perverse combination of the two." Harry said. "Not all Morningways are like that. Just you and Dean in fact."

"Thanks." Dean said as he pulled in front of the bar. "Okay, I have bets that after the screen blinks out, it's three minutes to a bar fight."

"Depends… are the Bears playing tonight?" Thomas asked. "If they are I say 2 minutes max… if not I'm gonna go with 5."

"Nice… nice… I'm leaving you two at home next time. Can't take you anywhere." Harry said with a grin.

"Bears are playing tonight. But it's early into happy hour." Dean said with a laugh as he signaled for a round of beers from a passing waitress.

"Ah." Thomas said. "I stand by my two. Max. If it were later, I'd say the fight was already starting."

"30 seconds." Said Harry with a grin figuring that with a heated game, the minute it went down things would start escalating. And the more the drinks flowed the faster it would escalate

They grabbed a table in the back. And within a minute the big screen fritzed out. The patrons started yelling, throwing things, though not at each other quite yet. Dean looked at his watch and started counting. "Thirty seconds is passed dude."

Harry laughed. "Leaves me out of the running. " He said as he put money on the tray for the beers and took a drink off of his. "So I have to say I blame you that my best friend is getting serious about your dad." He said.

"He's getting serious?" Dean said. "And she's getting serious? Dude, that's just wrong. Don't blame me, I was in a vampiric overdose coma when someone assigned her to watch Dad. It was either you or Sam." He pointed out. "two minutes." He said, looking at Thomas.

"It's not three minutes yet, put your hand down." Thomas sniffed. "The cop is dating a hunter. That's....nearly cliched somewhere."

"Makes sense I suppose, except I can't stand his father." Harry said with a chuckle. "But Justin actually hates the man. So I make nice when ever it has the most impact. "

"Dude, that is so wrong, being nice to my father to get under Justin's skin." Dean said as the first punch was thrown. "Three minutes, two seconds. I win."  
"No, you said three minutes. And it was three minutes two seconds." Thomas said. "No one wins. We'll have to try again later I think. So why don't you like his father?"

"Because Dad's abrasive. And so is Harry." Dean said.

"That's as good an answer as any." Harry said. It wasn't something Thomas needed to know. Harry wasn't one to share another's past, and Dean and Sam's early childhood was the reason Harry couldn't stand John Winchester. But he dealt with it. The boys had made their peace with him. That was, as they say, that.

"If they get married, I'll have a step sister." Dean aid. "Who plays with Barbies. Oh this is disturbing. Will I have to do something as lame as career day then? Which career do I present? Is her teacher single?"

"I think her mom is the one that would be going to career day." Harry said with a laugh. "I doubt that she is going to let your father go either. Now she might make you play with Barbies when you come over. Which I will find hilarious. "

"Oh that won't happen. I'm a bad influence." Dean said. "Doesn't matter if she and Dad get hitched. She won't let me near Anna, afraid I'll corrupt her. Now, Sam...he'll be a good playmate."

"She lets me near Anna." Harry said. "You won't be a problem. And Sam keeps getting into trouble, so I doubt that is going to be as much of a given as you think. Besides, who said serious equaled marriage?"

"The last person my dad was 'serious' about was my mother." Dean pointed out. "So I get to be paranoid, okay? Sam thinks it's cute."

"Sam thinks romance is cute. Right now I think he would fix up everyone but himself." Harry said. "And laugh gleefully as they walk down the aisle."

"Not going to be me." Dean said. "Last time, it was only because of a black magic spell."

"Count me out. All that blood letting will get to a girl after a while." Thomas said. "And I'd never be sure if it was because of me or because I'm just addictive. Guess it's up to you then, Harry."

Harry laughed quietly, almost silently. "Yeah, cause that's going to happen. Just as well... The Morningway line should die out with us anyway." He said, eyes darkening, features hardening for a moment before returning to his usual relaxed state.

"Well, I gotta find someone to leave the company to." Dean said with a shrug. "But I got time. Though my dad is worried about the Winchester line dying out."

"Adopt. Someone nice and normal with no magical blood flowing through their veins whatsoever" Harry said. He despised Justin. There was no doubt of that. He knew how twisted and duplicitous the man was. "I'm sure some hunter out there has left an orphan you can adopt. But if you adopt in the magical community, Justin will find a way to twist that kid into what he wants him to be."


	18. Chapter 18

Authors' Note: Two for one special today! And yes, we know that Mary's canon history no longer fits in with this story, but it was started before that nugget was revealed, so we're continuing to run with it! Enjoy!!

****

Sam leaned back in his chair and rubbed at his eyes. He had started studying in Harry's lab because that gave him access to Bob. The things in that spirit's head was enough to curdle milk a mile away. And yet here he was, happily playing tutor once more for his second favorite student. Sam knew Harry had the number one slot and he didn't mind at all.

"Okay... so ... tracing this kid." He said, remembering Melissa's last words to them. The utter grief on her face. There was or had been a child. Sam wanted details, and he wasn't going to tell Dean anything about it until he had those details.

"And you're not going to tell Dean that you're tracing his own child?" Bob asked with a lifted eyebrow. "Either way, you need to obtain something of Dean's. Preferably blood. That shouldn't be hard. But it has to be fresh."

Sam snorted. "That won't be hard. Just wait until the next hunt. He has a habit of bleeding all over everywhere." He said. "And I can't tell him. We don't even know if the child is alive. I'm not gonna do that to him. Once I know ... then I can tell him."

"Your brother." Bob said. "And maybe you should do something about Dean's habit. After all, according to your uncle, he's the front line defense to your little war."

"My uncle has a good deal to learn." Sam said with a scowl. He wasn't as forgiving of Justin as he appeared to be most days. Someone had to be accepting of him, in order to keep an eye on what he was up to. Sam could understand him, could see some of his points, but he wasn't forgiving. Especially not where Dean was concerned. "He wants to send a non mage in against the council's defenses. That isn't going to happen."

"And why not?" Bob asked. "Because he's your brother? Your uncle has made sure Dean is well trained for this. Non mage shouldn't be an issue. He hunts things a non mage really shouldn't, successfully ."

"Yeah, but that doesn't make him a match for Morgan, now does it? He would be going up against someone that has all of Dean's skills, and magic." Sam pointed out. "It's just another way that the man set out to use us from day one." He sighed. "I really wish I didn't still love the selfish son of a bitch."

"He's family." Bob said. "You can pick your friends. Or your nose. But not your family, not your blood. Now once you get the blood, and it must still be in liquid form, preferably before it clots, what are you going to do?"

"I'll figure it out. Seems like there is a lot of things to still figure out. At least Dad is getting settled into an almost normal life, Dean is out with Harry having a good time. Some things are working out at least, even if just for the night." He said. "If nothing else, there is always the next time he lands himself into a hospital."

"Which won't be long, never is." Bob said. "Not that he stays long. Can't say I would. I'm glad there really weren't hospitals in my day. Just infirmaries, or sick houses, which were just as bad."

"It won't take long. I'll just make off with one of the vials they draw when admitting him. Either that or I'll just bring what ever shirt he was wearing back with me since it's most likely to have more than the vial." He shook his head. Sometimes wondering if his brother was secretly suicidal.

"Your brother is a very angry young man." Bob said. "And the person he's angriest with is himself. I had hoped when he grew older it would stop, but hasn't yet. Maybe he's not a grown up yet."

"Dean was more grown up than he should have been back when we first arrived. He blamed himself for Dad leaving us, because it happened after Dad blamed him for some creature almost getting to me. He's non-magical in a magical world, there are so many things to make him angry, mostly at himself. He blames himself for the whole thing with Melissa. It's just how Dean is. He is angry and afraid of losing anyone else."

"Probably too late to fix him." Bob said as he gestured for Sam to turn a page on the grimoire. "There, that one should do well for tracing someone, if they're alive."

Sam copied down the spell into his own grimoire. "He doesn't need fixing. He just is who he is... Just like Dad. He is who and what he is and there isn't anything that's going to change it. I guess we could say the same about Justin but.... with the others I don't need to worry about what they are doing when I'm not looking. Unless you count worrying about Dean and his next hospital stay."

"Your uncle always worried what Dean was doing when he wasn't looking." Bob said. "The training....it served a greater purpose. But it kept your brother out of trouble as well. Justin has to be given some credit for that."

"I can give him credit for that. I can give him credit for loving us, and raising us. But I know how we got there... the deception, the pain for not only Dad but us. After all this manipulation from the council and Melissa, I'm just having a hard time with it again."

"Keep your chin up. Don't let the council see any cracks between you and Justin. They think Justin has the sepulcher. As long as they think you're close to him, you have a use for them. Once they think you're not, you won't. And they're more powerful than you, Sam."

"I don't let Justin see cracks." Sam said honestly. "I just focus on how it was growing up and shove it to the back of my mind. I know that I am in over my head, but I don't really have a if we want to stop them from using the sepulchers."

"As long as the one you have is underwraps, it shouldn't be a problem. Now, joining them together to destroy them....Justin says he doesn't want to activate them. That he has no use for a demon army...." Bob said and frowned. "And I don't believe him."

"Neither do I." Sam said. "Which is why the one we have is underwraps." He hated it hovering over their heads but it was better than the alternative. "I don't know that we will actually be able to succeed in getting the rest of them from the council. Maybe if you were physical and able to work magic, we could trust Justin and I had a few more years experience, we could maybe pull it off with Dad and Dean. Right now I think it would be a suicide mission."

"Yes. It would be." Bob said. "I don't think it will wait until it's not a suicide mission however."

"I know." Sam said. That was why he had moved the last sepulcher again. No one knew the location this time. He knew things were coming to a head and he knew that Justin would find it if it were kept in the same place too long. Or that his father and brother might do something bone headed without him if they had it in their possession.

"It's a tough role, having to be so paranoid over your own family." Bob said. "I don't envy you that."

"It's like a messed up soap opera. Are Dad and Harry going to kill each other before they join forces and off Justin, is Justin going to get the rest of us killed on the way to what ever his secret agenda is... We won't discuss the romance hell. Although Dad is doing okay. How ironic is that?"

"With Harry's best friend no less." Bob said with a chuckle. "I can see how it would be a soap opera. But just relax right now, and figure out this spell. It's important, no distractions."

Sam nodded and returned his attention to the spell. It was important. At least to to an innocent child too. If the boy existed, he had to be save from those that had forced his creation. Dean would be angry with him for not telling him earlier, but Sam could handle that. Especially since it would mean that Dean hadn't been all but killing himself trying to find the child that might or might not exist, that he hadn't been setting himself up for heart break if there wasn't a child.

"When your father finds out about Thomas, he might blow a gasket." Bob said idly. Sam had been using Harry's lab, he knew about Thomas (about six hours longer than Dean had).

"Yeah, that's why I'm not gonna be the one to tell him and Dean hasn't started sharing secrets with him. He's family. A ... strange and ... annoying ... kind of family but hey, he isn't MY brother or roommate so it's all good." He said with a faint laugh. "Okay ... this is going to work... once I get a sample from Dean. Which shouldn't take too long knowing my brother. He is about due for another one of his escape attempts from the office. Funny thing is... I honestly think he loves the office too."

"Not as much as everyone except your father would hope." Bob pointed the exception of John, it seemed the rest of Dean's family would be perfectly happy with his choosing the life of a CEO over that of a hunter.

"There is that." Sam said as he closed the book. His eyes crossing from all the reading. "I think I'm done for the day. Anything you want me to put in the dvd player before I head home?" He asked.

"Put in something funny." Bob said. "Everything's been so tense lately." For good reason, but still tense.

"Not a problem." He said, as he went to look through Harry's movie collection. He chose something slightly risque knowing Bob's tendancies. "See ya tomorrow." He told his mentor and left the place, locking everything up behind him.

****

The bar fight was a waste of time. Harry wouldn't let him join in. So Dean, after dropping Thomas and Harry back off, went to the office. Got a head start on the budget proposals so he didn't have to worry about it later. You know, when he was off saving the world from the evil magic council and everything else. He doubt the investors would consider that a reasonable excuse. Then he stopped off at Research and Development to see what was in the pipeline, and headed home. Actually slept for once. Every once in a while he liked to do that.

Even if Max and Ronan woke him up early to go out.

So he went to his work out room and started training, hands taped up.

Justin entered the room and watched from the doorway. He had always liked watching Dean train. He had an intensity, a focus that was worthy of any magus at his craft. Dean was a Morningway, no matter what name he chose to continue using. In another era, Dean would have had the world at his feet. If he were willing to take the company bull by the horns, he could still have it all.

Dean continued for a few minutes longer, oblivious to his uncle's presence, but noticed him when he faced the door way. "Uncle Justin." He said, reaching for his water bottle while ripping the tape off his hands. "You're up early."

"I'm always up early." He said with a smile. "Today I decided to be social. I haven't seen you in a few days. You and Samuel seem to always be off in seperate directions these days."

"Sam can't go to my office. Last time he did, he blew up my secretary's computer." Dean said as he stretched. "And every once in a while, I gotta go there. Stockholders' meeting next week. And sure, I'll probably blow off attending like I do every year, but my presence will be felt with brief upon brief upon brief. Besides, he's been hanging out with Bob, honing his magic for that whole thing we're about to get into."

Justin nodded and relaxed. "Ah... good." That meant Samuel was safe. There had been an uncanny silence with the council lately. He didn't think it was a good sign at all. Fortunately both boys were safe and doing what they needed to do. As long as that continued to be the case, all was well.

"And I'm really no use in that corner." Dean said. Being the non magical part of the family. "He's supposed to call tonight, after he's done for the day, and we'll go get a couple of beers, kick back, pretend for two hours that the world really might not end because of some power hungry assholes."

Justin sighed. "Unfortunately that seems to be the natural state of the world. Hovering ever closer to the brink of destruction every day. Powerful men, magical or otherwise making decisions that affect everyone's daily lives. Small things adding to bigger things until it's overwhelming... then young men such as you and Samuel put things back in order."

"Someone has to." Dean said with a shrug. "It's not like the world will right itself. And Harry and Dad do their part too."

"Yes, they do. It is usually on a much smaller scale but a necessary one. Without such men, we would be over run with demons and monsters." Justin said. "And would never be able to do anything else." He wasn't making light of the work Harry and John did. Not really. He just didn't see that it compared. Justin was an elitist at heart. He couldn't help it really.

Dean lifted an eyebrow at that and chuckled. He knew his uncle was an elitist. That much was apparent within five minutes of meeting the guy. "Yeah well, sometimes it seems like we don't do much else anyway."

"That, my dear boy, is your choice." Justin told him. "Hunting isn't who you are. It's something you do. You are much more than that, Dean. So much more." Justin worried that with John back in his life, Dean would slip away from him completely. Into that world of hunting.

"Yeah, and the company is something that I do. And the whole playboy image is something that I do. So, other than Sam's over protective older brother, and the cousin Harry likes to have a beer with, who am I?" Dean asked. "Does it even matter?"

"Of course it matters." Justin said. "But it has to be something for you to decide. No man is ever defined by vocation, or relationships. " He said. "You are defined by the qualities you bear, and unfortunately few of us ever have a clear image of what those qualities may be."

"Definitely don't ask me." Dean said with a chuckle. "My goal is to get through the weekend alive. Usually it's just tomorrow, but weekends count together."

Justin laughed, but it didn't reach his eyes. He still worried about Dean and his self doubt. It was a weakness that was too easy to exploit, even more readily than Samuel. "Well, I will leave you to your workout and your work. Shall we have dinner on Sunday? All of us together. Well... the three of us anyway. Harry is welcome, of course but I don't think he would accept the invitation."

"He might, you never know." Dean said as he retaped his hands. He watched his uncle head for the door, always dressed in a three piece suit and immaculate. While Dean stood there in sweatpants and bare feet, sweaty. What a difference. "Uncle Justin...when you took us from Dad....is this what you always envisioned? Sam and I training in different ways for the big showdown?"

Justin turned to face his nephew. "It wasn't what I wanted." He said honestly. "Eventually I knew it had to be... but it wasn't what I wanted. It wasn't even why I started you training." He told him. "The training, much like Max, was something to give you focus... discipline... somewhere to put all that anger and pain that wouldn't tear you apart. My methods were... less than honest. But I have always loved you boys. All three of you."

"I know." Dean said. And that was one thing he'd always believed. Didn't excuse anything, but he believed it. "Just wish things were turning out differently. "

"As do I, son, As do I." Justin looked at his nephew for a long moment. "But one thing you need to know. There is no way I could be more proud of the man you have become."

"Thanks." He said, and scoffed at himself. Was his ego that fragile that he needed a middle aged man to tell him he was proud of him? Unfortunately, yes. And maybe someday his father would actually say it too.

Justin smiled warmly at him and walked away. He had a feeling something was lurking around the corner waiting for an opportunity to strike. He didn't want the last time he saw one of them to be in anger, and he felt the need to make sure that they knew how he felt.

Dean watched his uncle go, and felt almost a sense of foreboding. But his cell phone was ringing, so it shook him out of the mood. "Hey Harry, what's up? I know it's way early for you, man." He said as he looked at the clock. "Oh, maybe not. It's later than I thought."

"Yeah, well I wouldn't be up and bothering you, but Bob is nagging me to find out where Sam is. He never showed up for their session today." Harry said, figuring the brothers had gotten involved in something and Sam had lost track of time just as Dean had.

"What do you mean?" Dean said, standing perfectly still. "He's not with you? He's supposed to be with you. Or Bob. I haven't seen him in two days. And he's not with you?"

"I'm on my way." Harry said. "Make sure he hasn't been hunting with your father or something before we go off half cocked chasing him down. I'll see you in a few."

"Fine." Dean said and called his father's cell phone. "Dad. Is Sam with you?" He said, without preamble when John's voice came over the line. His stomach was twisting, please please let him be with John.

"No he isn't. We were going to have dinner last night but he stood me up." It wasn't the first time, so he hadn't worried about it. Once Sam got into his research, he lost track of all time. Days, hours, John was surprised he remembered what year it was. That was a wizard for you.

Dean was silent for a long moment. "You better get over here then." He said quietly. "I'm in my gym. I'll have them bring down coffee, whatever, just get here."

"Dean, how long has Sam been missing?" He knew his youngest son was independent, and since he was going between three places all the time no one knew where he was half the time. It could be several days for all John knew.

"I last saw him two days ago." Dean said. "Bob saw him yesterday. He was supposed to show up today. Just get over here, okay? So we can all go over this."

"On my way." John said and hung up. "Come on Mutt, we're going for a ride." He then sighed and scooped up Sam's puppy as well. Normally he would put him in a crate when he took off but who knew how long he would be gone if something had happened to Sam. He got to the mansion 15 minutes later, striding in the front door, ignoring the staff as he made his way to the gym where his eldest boy waited.

Harry had arrived 5 minutes earlier, and had set Bob's skull on the table allowing him to be there too.

Dean looked at his father and his cousin, then Bob when Bob appeared. "I think we've got a problem." He said. "I saw Sam two nights ago, we got pizza. Who saw him more recently than that?"

"He was at Harry's place with me yesterday. He left while you boys were still at the bar." Bob said. frowning. "He has a number of his own targets painted on his back, but he also carries one for each of you, and Justin as well. Given Sam's general nature and disposition, we could probably find at least 5 other people who care enough about him that someone would want to use him as leverage. We have a very large problem."

Dean sighed. "Okay. So he was last with you." He said and got out a map, marking Harry's apartment. "Did he say where he was going? Mention anything at all?"

"Said he was heading home." Bob told him, with a frown.

"Well he never made it to either of them." John said with a frown as he began to pace. "Okay... what have we been doing lately? Has he been on any case with you Harry that would get him an enemy? I've taken out the creatures I hunt... nothing left behind to want vengeance... a lot of people want to see me dead but they don't want to hurt Sam... Dean... what about on your end..." He didn't want to even think about what Justin could have gotten Sam into. It was his first thought but it would get shot down if he said it as his resentment talking.

Dean sighed. "Not much. I mean, when we hunt, we get the thing and it stays down." Dean said. "Maybe someone from the business world, unlikely. I'm not well liked, but I'm not hated either. They just think I'm young. Still." He said and shook his head. "Okay, I gotta say it. What about Justin? I don't think he has anything to do with this, not personally, but the man has more enemies than anyone else in this room. Combined."

"Then maybe we should have Justin join us." John said, with a frown.

"What about the council?" Harry asked. "It doesn't have to be malevolent, it could be as much as he is on assignment. One of the Wardens would know if he was with the council on business." Neither he nor Dean wanted to speak with Morgan though, and it was give or take if any of the others could be trusted. "So we will want Justin to get hold of Morgan."

"Yeah that should go over well." Dean said with a sigh as he called the room Justin had made into his office (since Dean had taken over his original office). "We need you down here, seriously, there's a problem." He said and hung up. He started to pace. "That's if Morgan will tell us anything."

"Morgan is more likely than any of the other wardens. He actually likes Sam ... as much as he likes anyone that isn't one of his own." Harry said.

Justin entered the room. "What's wrong?" He asked, having run most of the way. Something in Dean's voice said there wasn't time to waste.

"We can't find Sam." Dean said. "He's AWOL. No one's seen him since yesterday, and it's not normal for at least one of us to not know where he is."

"I haven't seen him in almost a week." He said with a frown and exchanged looks with Harry. It didn't take more than that to tell him what he needed to do. He picked up the telephone. The hard wired one and placed a call. "Morgan... we need to talk."

"I am not at your beck and call, Morningway." Morgan said as he got on the line. "What is it?"

"Sam is missing. Is he with the council?" He said. "Don't tell me that it's not my concern. Sam is my business, and I will find out one way or another. I would rather find out from you."

"I've heard nothing of that." Morgan said, bored. "I'm a warden. I'm not Sam's babysitter." Nor was he privvy to everything the council did.

"Then consider yourself told that a member of the council has been missing for 2 days." Justin said sharply. "Just in case that happens to be something a warden is interested in these days."

"He is considered missing because you haven't seen him." Morgan pointed out. "You have a council seat. Why don't you ask them?" He was also planning on checking things out on his end. It was....concerning.

"He is missing because no one in his family has seen him since he left Harry's place. He has not been home, he has not answered his phone, he has not gone on a hunt because he does not hunt alone and he does not have a habit of going off with women. And if the council were responsible do you really thing they would tell me of all people?"

"Damn, so if I went missing, it would take a while for you guys to realize it, wouldn't it?" Dean said to Harry and his father. He did have a habit of hunting alone. And he also had a well documented habit of going off with women.

"And you are mistaken if you think the council clears their activities with me." Morgan said. "Your only option for yourself is to ask the council themselves. I will see if I can find any trace of him."

"They don't clear their activities but they use your people as cat's paws." Justin pointed out. "And thank you." He told Morgan and hung up. "No word with Morgan, he is going to see what he can find out. Unfortunately I have to go and confront the council myself."

"Well, better you than me." Dean said. "I'm going to call R&D and see if they can come up with an implantable GPS at this rate."

"It won't work. He would short the electronics." Harry said.

"Doesn't mean they can't plant one in Dean." John said, having lost both of his sons for a very long time.

"Ha ha." Dean said. "Look, they found a cell phone Sam could use. So maybe they'll be able to make a tracking device. I've got geniuses working for me. And the smarter they are, the more I pay."

"Good luck." John said, really liking the idea that they could be tagged, for easy finding. "And I mean that."

Justin left the room quietly, and called for his driver. He was going to confront the council, and it needed to happen soon.

"That's going to go swimmingly." Dean said, watching Justin leave. "I think I might actually feel bad for the council. Unless, of course, they have Sam. Then I hope Justin kicks them where it hurts."

Harry frowned. "If they have Sam... Justin will cave." He didn't doubt that his uncle loved the boys. He had doubts about himself. Something about being used as the life force to bring him back from the grave could have something to do with that. Okay it had a lot to do with that. Because the alternative was to believe that Justin loved him as well. Which meant that he was a danger to everyone around him.

Dean shook his head. "He'd give the appearance of caving to keep Sam safe, and sic the rest of us on them in different ways. It's a standard negotiating technique." He'd learned it in Justin's boardroom when he was still a teenager.

"Then I suppose it's a good thing Samuel moved the sepulcher." Bob said. He didn't know if Sam had told them or not. The boy had seemed to think that his family was safer if they didn't know. Of course there was the other issue that could be responsible for Sam's disappearance

"He moved it?" Dean said, then nodded. "Good call. So what were you two working on?"

"Location spells." Bob said honestly. "Which may be of use to you, Harry, in finding Samuel. However, we will need something of his person to do it. It's definitely sympathetic magic."

"Will hair do it?" Dean asked. "He's still got his brush in his bathroom. The mop on that kid's head, gotta have some hair in it."

"It's not as potent as blood, but it should work." Bob said. "If he is being held locally. If he isn't, there won't be a strong enough tie to maintain a connection long enough."

"Well, Sam's not the one that likes to bleed all over the place." John said, with a pointed look at his oldest son, who ignored it.

"Hair's the best I've got." Dean said. "So we'll roll with that."

"As you like." Bob said. "Perhaps we should get that and retire to Harry's lab. Things are already prepared there."

"All right." Dean said as he pulled a shirt on and found his shoes. "Dad and I will meet you there."

Harry picked up Bob's skull and started toward the door. "Leave a message for Justin, so he knows where to find us with word." He was sure as his uncle was that it had to to with the council. Probably the damned box too, unfortunately Sam was the only one that knew where it was, which meant if they broke him, they would have it too.

"Will do." Dean said as he jotted down a note to leave by the door for Justin. "Come on, Dad, let's go see what we can figure out."

Harry sat Bob's skull on the seat beside him in big blue. "Okay." He said as he drove away from the estate. "You want to tell me what you and Sam were really working on?"

"We were working on a location spell for Dean's child." Bob said. "Sam believes it exists, and wants to find it for his brother. Without, of course, telling Dean. If the child is dead, the matter is never spoken of again."

Harry frowned. "How did you expect to track the kid?" He asked. It could be used to track Sam if need be.

"Blood magic." Bob said. "I hope hair will work, but we could use John's blood. We were going to use Dean's blood after all. Dean doesn't know."

"Let's keep it that way." Harry said. "If it doesn't work, we send Dean out for some reason or another or wait until he's asleep and I'll talk to John about it."

"Good plan." Bob said. "Except he's not going to sleep until Sam is found. Your uncle trained him to be a machine more or less, relentless, ruthless and utterly incapable of compartmentalizing when it comes to his brother. John had a part in that too, I think."

"Oh that's all on John. Justin just gave Dean the tools to perfect it." He said. "But he will do what is necessary and if I tell him it's necessary for him to get something from across town to make it work, he will go and get it. That much I know."

"Or just send him for food." Bob said. "Once we get into the magic side of things, he'll do anything to feel useful, even making a food run."

Harry parked the car and sighed. "Yeah I know. I hope Sam isn't in over his head with the council. If he is, it's going to be war... and I don't know if we'll win."

"Oh I highly doubt that we will." Bob said, always realistic. "But we'd put on quite a show before they killed us, wouldn't we?"

Harry grinned. "That we would." He said. Not that he was looking forward to going out in a blaze of glory, but he was willing to do it if he had to. He just hoped that in the end, it accomplished something.

*****************

"Go ahead and say it." Dean said as he drove, glancing at his father. "I lost track of Sam. Just go ahead and say it so we can hash it out right now."

"Dean... Sam is a grown man. You both have your own lives. I'm not going to bust your chops for not being in his back pocket all the time." John said, having come to terms with the fact that his sons were grown men. It had come slow and hard and painful but he got it. "You're not the one I blame for this." Justin. That was where he put the blame this time.

"Let me guess. Justin." Dean said. "Wasn't entirely his idea for Sam to join the council, I supported it. Harry supported it. Bob was thrilled."

"Yeah, Justin. You think Sam disappeared because he joined the council? They wouldn't keep him prisoner. They would kill him or make an example of him. Sam is being kept somewhere, which means he is being kept for a reason. Most likely a lever against someone and who do you think that is going to turn out to be?"

"You know, it could be me." Dean pointed out. "Haven't exactly made many friends in the council. Neither has Harry, what with them imposing a death sentence on him, then they had to endure the embarassment of lifting it. Nothing's as simple as Justin is evil and the rest of us are good."

"I doubt you have anything they need." John said. "And Harry has left them alone. Which would leave your business dealings. Not likely to be the council after your business or money, son. It would be an average Joe after him for that. And I don't think they could take him."

Den wasn't as confident in his father's theories. He had a lot of things going on in research and development after all. "The sepulchers." Dean said. "Sam knows where that one is. He's the only one that knows."

"I think you have just hit the nail on the head. They want the final sepulcher. We need to find your brother and fast." John said. He didn't see anything resembling a good out come to this. It was going to be a bloody battle at best.

"We need to find him and find him fast besides that." Dean said. "But it's a good motivator." He said as he pulled in front of Harry's. "Let's see what Harry's got."

"Yeah." John said as he got out. Not happy at all about having to use purely wizardly ways to find his son. It was annoying at best. At its worst, it just proved that he was once again powerless to find him. John hated that feeling most of all. It had been ever present in the back of his mind since the night Mary had died. An image that still haunted him... as did the empty house he had found waiting for him when he had gone back to get his boys.

"Hopefully he's got something, because it would be quicker." Dean said as they got out. "Otherwise, we'll just do it our way then." Which might get messy, but Dean was willing.

John sighed. "We might have to anyway. Just cause he can locate him doesn't mean that it won't get violent before we're done."

"Oh it will." Dean said as they went into Harry's apartment. Someone had touched his little brother. That was all it would take for Dean. And he worked better when he had a focus anyway. "Just gives us a direction to point the violence in. Got anything yet, Harry?"

"Just getting things set up now. " Magick took time, at least the sort of magick they were trying. "I'm up to my neck here in prep, can I get you to head over to Mo's and pick up a couple things for me? And do us both a favor and leave John here. Mo still wants to kill him after their last meeting and I can't afford to lose another source."

"Wow, another person Dad pissed off. Why am I not surprised?" Dean said as he headed off to Mo's to get supplies.

John looked at Harry. But waited until Dean was gone. "I've never met this Mo guy." John pointed out. "So what am I supposed to hear that Dean isn't?"

"Sam and Bob have been working on a spell to track down the kid that ... well... anyway... Dean doesn't need that kind of stress right now, and he would demand an explanation. I was figuring this is a good time to try that spell out... and what we need to do it is blood from the father of the missing person to do it."

"Makes sense to me." John said. Even if he, personally, would have preferred to instead find Sam quickly by shaking some bushes and following physical leads, he wasn't going to refuse an option when it was presented to him. "So how much blood do you need?"

"Not much. They figured Dean tosses his around enough getting a little wouldn't be hard." He held out a bowl. "Just a few drops in there, if you please."

John sighed and took out his pocket knife, pristinely clean like all his other weapons, and cut a shallow slice in his palm and let the blood gather and drip into the bowl, then grabbed a paper towel. "That enough?"

"That should do. If this works, and we all survive the rescue mission.. we'll see if we can't find that kid they stole from us." Harry said as he put things together. "You might not like us... hell half the time I don't like us... but family is everything to a Morningway. Justin just forgets that there is more to family than just those with Morningway blood. The rest of us... we remember."

"And there are those of that remember what a Morningway will do in the name of family. Oh wait, there's only one. Me. Because I'm the only one that survived." John said.

Harry gave him a look. A long hard look. "My father died in my arms." He said sharply. "And when I found out the reasons for it... so did Justin. I know exactly what a Morningway will do. Don't think those boys are any different either. Dean is going to kill whoever it was that took Sam. And nothing any of us can do will stop him. And if truth be told... I wouldn't stop him if I could... unless I could get the job done faster myself."

"I can hold Dean back." John said. "And if this traces back to the council, I'll have to. Because they're human, and Winchesters have lines."

"Yeah well, maybe you shouldn't be meddling in the affairs of wizards. I suppose it's different if they are wearing a different uniform and some idiot in office says you should go to foreign soil to kill someone that isn't a threat to you. It's a bit late to become a conscientious objector, don't you think? Wake up, Winchester ... this is war."

John's jaw ticked at that as it clenched. He had to force himself to relax his hands. He'd had enough of that when he'd come back from war. It was a sore spot. Really was. "And maybe I don't want my son to live with what I have to." He said instead.

"They don't have that luxury anymore than you did back then." Harry countered. "What are you going to do? Knock all the wizards out and walk out without anyone dying... well except for us." Harry said. "I don't like killing. I've done it once and that was out of pure pain and rage, and I have been paying for it since. But I don't like the idea of laying down and dying either. Most wizards stick more closely to that line you talk about than the rest of the human race manages. But those that don't make an artform of it."

"Dean's got enough problems without coating his hands in human blood." John said. "No matter what Justin was training him for. I'd like to come out of this with both my sons intact."

"You don't listen so well, do you?" Harry said, shaking his head. "You want to keep Dean's hands clean, you knock him out and leave Bob to baby sit before we go in because the other side doesn't care if their psyches are intact. Hell the other side doesn't care if their bodies are intact."

"I'll watch after Dean." John said firmly, an edge to his voice. "He's my son, that's what fathers do. Just find Sam."

"Yeah, well while you've been gone," he said, "thats what I've been doing." He didn't say it as sharply this time. It wasn't an accusation. It was a statement of fact. He had been an adult when the boys had arrived after all. "Some responsiblitities you are just going to have to share." He said as he heard the Impala drive up.

John heard the rumbling of the engine and knew the discussion was tabled for now as Dean walked in with the bag of supplies. "Here you go." Dean said. "So how are we with finding Sam yet?"

"I will let you know in a minute." He said as he took two of the vials out of the bag of supplies and added some of each to the mixture. The flame burst upward and the crystal turned blood red and began to spin. "Looks like it's gonna work."

"Thank god." Dean said with a sigh of relief. He wanted to know where his brother was. So he could go get him out. And whatever higher powers there were, they better be looking down in mercy at whoever had him, because it was not going to be clean.

He moved to a map of the world that had been spread out over the table and held it over it. "Looks like you're gonna need to get that jet of yours ready. After you do that, I'll call Justin."

Dean grimaced. He hated flying. Never did it unless he was sedated. And sedation might not be an option this time. "Fine." Dean said and stepped into the hall away from Harry and called the hangar. "It's all set. And safe for you, Harry. Sam's ridden on it."

"Think it will hold up to me and Justin on board?" He didn't want to go in as the only wizard. Maybe he should give Morgan a head's up too. This was his day for talking to people he didn't really like... people that had at one time wanted to kill him... and then there was John. Oh yeah... this was going to be a great day. He thought as he went to use the land line phone out in the office.

"It'll hold up fine." Dean said as he moved across the room to start laying in shortcuts at customs. Important, with the firepower he'd be bringing.

Justin answered on the first ring. "Harry, do you know where he is?" He asked. Figuring it would be Harry somehow.

"Yep, we're taking Dean's plane. He says it can handle wizards." Probably something set up while he was seeing Melissa. "You want to get ahold of Morgan or should I? Or do you think he is a part of it?"

"I think if we have to ask that question, we shouldn't let him in the loop." Justin said. "For now, we assume he either is a part of it, or still has strong loyalty to the council as a whole. My wishes and Sam's predicament probably aren't enough to overrule that. I'll meet you at the hangar."

"See you there." Harry said and went back to the lab. "He will meet us at the hanger. So we'd better get a move on, I guess."

"Well this will be a wonderful flight." Dean said as they headed out the door. "You, Dad, Uncle Justin, me unmedicated...."

"Yeah... and when we get there, we are going to have to have a plan or we're dead... or worse, leverage against Sam." Harry pointed out.

"Okay, I've got a plan." Dean said as he drove them toward the airport. "I kick the shit out of everyone I see, and you guys grab Sam."

"No… " Harry said. "Because in case you have forgotten they are going to be slinging magick around like left over hash." He shook his head. "We need a better plan."

"No, my plan is perfect." Dean said as he led them to the finely appointed private jet where the pilot and Justin were waiting. He nodded to the pilot and boarded the jet. "What I need is some of that anti magick stuff you had on me and Sam before. It'll nullify that part, their defense and offense, at least where I'm concerned, and let me do what I do best."

Harry looked at John, as if to say he had tried. "We'll work on that spell along the way." He said as Justin arrived.

"Finally." Dean said when Justin was aboard and told the pilot to go ahead. "Okay, so we make me immune to magick, you guys do your stuff....make Dad immune too. We're the ass kickers of the group, you're the heavy artillery."

"Son… we aren't going in there to kill. We are going in to get Sam, and if we come across the rest of the sepulchers along the way, that won't hurt my feelings but this is a rescue mission, not a clean sweep."

"Don't be a fool." Justin countered.

"Justin's right." Dean said. "If we've got a chance to end this, then we should. Because as long as they're alive and plotting, we're all in danger. How many times can we go fish one of us out of their clutches?"

"When did you start killing people?" John asked his son. He figured nothing was beyond Justin, and apparently Harry. But he had expected more out of his son. "I thought I taught you better than that."

"You also taught me to protect Sam above everything else, and keep him safe no matter what the cost." Dean said. "You can't have it both ways. He's a target, he's the only one who knows where our sepulcher is. I don't want him to tell us. I want him alive. And safe. So, no matter what, I'm going to ensure that. You taught me that."

"This is going to cost you more than you know, Dean. This isn't going to be like killing monsters. These are people. It's going to hit you one day like a ton of bricks that you took a human life. Are you ready for that? You seem really gung ho about it. Not even willing to consider that maybe there is another option."

"And what's the other option?" Dean countered. "We're planning a full scale war on them in the first place. They made the first strike and they struck against my brother. Which is worse than a direct hit on me, at least to me. They're among the most powerful wizards on the earth. You think we can walk in, walk out and they won't try this again? Maybe next time they'll smarten up and take one of us instead. Me, you, Harry...to make Sam talk. You think I'm going to rescue my brother only to turn around and rescue my cousin or my father? And plan a war? And fight a war?"

"Do you even know who the enemies are? How do we know who is on what side in there? Is the entire council involved in this conspiracy?" John countered.

"So are you suggesting we ask what side they're on first?" Dean asked. "Anyone who tries to stop me from getting to my brother is making a very serious mistake. And if they try, it'll be because they're NOT on our side."

"They will be trying to stop us because we are invading their space. I am asking that we come up with a better plan than go in guns and fists blazing."

"Well that's all I got." Dean said. "The other was dressing Harry up as a girl scout and have him sell some cookies. I prefer my first one."

"So do I." Harry said. "And I hate the first one. Look, let's scout things out and see if we can't sneak in and get Sam out before we go all ballistic. We aren't going to do him any good dead cause ... Morgan doesn't need magic to be deadly, in case you hadn't noticed."

"I don't need magic either." Dean pointed out. He'd been trained enough to be deadly with a post it if he had to be.

"The difference being you and John are two people… there are many more wardens than that, and they are all just as highly trained as you are."

"My motivation is better." Dean said. "And unless anyone comes up with a better plan, that's what we'll have to go with."

"How about we see to a plan B or, as the rest of us like to call it, a plan A and then we decide which one we will take once we know what we are up against? I'd like to get both of you out of this alive." Harry had no trouble making them all go away. But he wasn't going to risk one of the boys to save the other if they didn't have to.

"Fine. What's plan B?" Dean asked.

"I will go in first." Justin said. "Distrct them. See what they know. They'll believe I'm there for my own best interests, they'd be more willing to let me in."

"And we're to trust you?" John asked. He knew he didn't. Justin would be there for his own best interests.

"Do you have a choice?" Justin responded.

"When it comes to getting Sam out of there… I do." Harry said, but only because that was in Justin's best interest. He wanted all the sepulchers as much as the council did. And he would need Sam to get that.


	19. Chapter 19

****************************************

Sam paced. It was all he could do. He had tried everything else. Funny how rogue wizards knew how to block another wizard's power. Even Sam's. He had made it through one question and answer session with his hide intact and his mouth shut. He didn't know if he would last a second. He doubted the next one would be a full sensory illusion either. It would be the real thing. He just hoped the others didn't find out where he was. It was too dangerous and their foes knew them too well.

Ancient Mai came in and stood at the door and looked at Sam Winchester. Who knew he'd be so much trouble?

"Your brother is on his way." She said crisply. "His interests are contrary to ours. Are you sure you won't talk? It would be so much easier if you just told us what we want to know."

Sam's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, easier for you. Then you won't have to keep me alive and you would do what ever you think you are going to do to Dean, whether I talk or not." He said, although he knew that this was going to be ugly and painful for himself and his brother before it was done. He should never have taken his place on the council. He had brought this on his family.

"Fine, if you insist." Ancient Mai said. "Then we'll do what we're going to do to him in front of you. You can see your brother die, and he can know in his final moments that you wouldn't save him."

"He would be telling me all the while not to give you anything." Sam said. "You think you are dealing with Morningways. You aren't. We're Winchesters. This isn't anywhere near over yet." Sam's eyes narrowed and flashed darkly, darker than they had before. But it was hard to tell in this light.

"We'll put your theory to the test. They should be here soon. They'll probably try to storm their way through, knowing your brother." Ancient Mai said and shrugged. "Maybe you want him dead. He is a liability."

"Maybe you just want to back off." Sam growled, it wasn't a pleasant sound. Hell of it was, it wasn't a worried or frightened sound either. She was trying to push his buttons and he knew that. But neither of them realized exactly what buttons she was pushing.

"Why is it that a mage of your stature takes orders from a mere mortal?" Ancient Mai asked, watching Sam. "You could be so much more without him. I'd look at this opportunity as a liberation if I were you."

"He's my brother." Sam said. "And I don't take orders from him. If you knew anything about me, you would know I don't take orders from anyone. Not even you. But then you wouldn't understand human relationships anymore, would you? It's been too long for you."

"And one day, Samuel, it will be too long for you." Ancient Mai said. "Just tell us where the last sepulcher is."

"No." He said. "Because there is nothing good for anyone that can come of those things. Not even for you, Mai. It's death, and rot and decay. It's Pandora's box times five. Pick a new obsession. You aren't getting this one."

"Strange, you compared it to Pandora's box. Does it contain hope times five also? Our plans for it are not your concern, unless you plan to join us."

"Join you?!" He looked at her as though she had sprouted wings and a tail. "You kidnapped me and have promised to kill my family. Not exactly the best incentive plan."

"It's the best incentive plan." Ancient Mai said. "You'd guarantee your family's safety, and be at the forefront of a new world."

Sam glared at her. "I'd be at the forefront of the end of the world and my family would hate me for it."

"You've always shown such promise. I hate that you're such a disappointment now." Ancient Mai said. "I'll let you think about that. Our inquisitors will be in a bit."

"A disappointment?" Sam said. "More like … a road block. One you are not going to get past. You think about that. And the fact that any of my family you hurt will just make me want to fight you even harder."

"Just remember how easy it could have been, when they're done, and we have our answer anyway." Ancient Mai said.

"You are never going to get what you are looking for. I'll die first... and the longer I'm alive, the longer I have to hope someone figures out what you are trying to do. You lose either way."

"Oh I hope they do. We need blood." She said calmly. "Some magic is rather messy, and your brother loves to just spread his around, doesn't he?"

His jaw set firmly, something in his eyes shifted even further. "You keep your mouth shut about my brother. Don't make a mistake you are going to regret." Although he was pretty sure they were both about to cross that line.

"You should be one to talk." Ancient Mai said. "I'll talk with you later. Maybe then you'll be more social."

"Go to hell." He growled. "I know a great travel agency." Even mages could die of a gun shot wound.

She simply smiled at him and left the room, nodding to the men outside. The interrogators.

***********************************

Harry looked to Justin. "They have to know we're coming. Hell, they are probably counting on it." He said.

"They are." Justin said. "But we don't really have a choice, do we? It's either we go get Samuel or we leave him. I'd rather get him."

"No one is arguing that point." Harry said. "Just thinking we need a plan, and don't say you go in swinging until you find him." He said to Dean.

"Why not?" John countered. "Shock and awe has been a viable military tactic for millenia."

"Thank you." Dean said to his father and smirked at Harry. "It's a good plan to me. I tear the place apart until I find Sam. I'll tear it apart brick by brick if I have to."

"We tear it apart." John corrected. "And before you point out that they have magic..." he told the wizards, "that's what you two are for, to buy us enough time to find him."

"Yeah, if it were only that simple." Harry said. This was the council. The freaking council. And it was messing with the black arts. Something he had sworn never to touch again. Once had been enough for him.

"It is that simple." Dean said. "We make it look like Dad and I came alone. We'll have more than enough fire power between us, and I have that anti magic spell on me, so they're limited. You guys come on the back flank."

Justin nodded. "It could work. More to the point, it will have to because there are no other options available to us. The two of you are used to taking the risks alone." He knew that Harry wouldn't flinch at a conflict with the council if Dean were not there in a position to be harmed. Dean never flinched from anything. "But this time we must stand together, take the risks together, in spite of our differences, or we will fail. "

"Good. Then it's decided." Dean said. "You two mask yourselves. Dad and I will depart alone. You follow an hour behind. By then we should be distracting enough to cover your arrival." 

"An hour?" Harry objected. "Exactly how much ammunition do you have with you that you think you can fight for an hour straight with no magical back up? Think that one over again. "

Dean grinned impishly at Harry. "Yeah. An hour. I'm underestimating there. I was going to say two." He said. "We'll be fine. We know what we're doing. We're the regular old humans who have made a business out of fighting the supernatural, remember?"

"You're the over confident cousin who doesn't know what he is going up against in there, Remember?" Harry countered. "I don't think it's a good idea for you two to be in there for an hour without back up. "

"Not without back up." Dean said. "You guys are going to come to the party, right? We just have to hold out for an hour. We can do it. An hour is long enough to convince them that we're doing this alone, they'll concentrate on us, leaving gaps in their perimeter defenses for you two to slip through. It's a good plan, Harry."

He swore quietly. An hour was an eternity in a fight. He knew that. It was exhausting to keep it up that long. Especially against someone like the wardens. They were just as well trained as Dean in what he called 'regular guy' combat. But it was what he was insisting on. He looked at Justin. They would figure out what they were going to do and how long they would wait to do it when the Winchesters had exited the plane.

Justin nodded back at Harry. The plan, Dean's timeline, it would be...adjusted....once the Winchesters were out of hearing distance. Until then, he was happy to sit back and watch Dean go through his armory he had on the jet, deciding what they could carry and what they couldn't into the fight.

"They've got my brother." Dean said as he loaded a gun, and not with rock salt. "That means they're fair game. Everyone in there." 

"Not arguing that point." Harry said. "Even if it weren't for Sam I wouldn't argue the point. They're dabbling in black magic. They aren't the good guys."

Dean looked at Justin. Then Harry. And chuckled to himself a bit as he turned his attention back to the weaponry. "Just want you two to be aware you might have to step over a pile of bodies to get in there. That's all."

Harry had gotten over his guilt over his one bout of black magic. In fact it wasn't guilt at all but sheer terror of going down that path. There had been no actual guilt over killing the man who had murdered his father. Justin... well he doubted Justin had a conscience. "Wouldn't be the first time." He said. "At least this time I'm not there to figure out what killed them."

"Nothing magical at all, promise." Dean said as he felt the plane start to land. "Okay, here we go. Remember. One hour. Not before, not after." 

Harry nodded, looking to John, hoping for a voice of reason about that time line. Of course the man said nothing. This was just another hunt to him. Something where it was an acceptable risk of his son. "I hear you."

"Good." Dean said, gathering everything up and passing weapons to his father. "Then we'll see you in an hour." He said as the plane stopped in the private hangar.

"Don't get yourselves killed." Harry admonished as he and Justin literally faded from view.

John rolled his eyes. "Is he always such a nervous nelly?" John asked as he prepared to exit the plane into a fire fight.

"He's not a nervous nelly." Dean said as they picked up the company car. "We might not walk out of there, Dad." Dean said honestly. "Harry knows that, I know that. He would just like to see us walk out of there."

John frowned. "I know. And that's why you told them to wait an hour. So that when they get there the dust is settling. Instead of letting them get into danger."

"Exactly." Dean said. "There's only so many lines they can push. If on the off chance we're not successful, but they did fight dirty, Harry will be on trial for using black magic. Not going to do that to him. So he gets there when it's over, there's no line to push."

John nodded. "Let's do this then. You be certain that you are looking at those people as the monsters they are though, Son. They stopped being human when they started trying to end the world. "

"They stopped being human when they took Sam." Dean said.

John was silent the rest of the trip. When they approached the compound he began to communicate in hand signs to his older son. Something he had taught him as soon as the boy had been willing to hold still long enough to learn.

Dean parked the car in a disguised location and nodded to his father, making signs back as he gathered his weaponry. He had no fear, he'd shut that part down and tucked it away. There wasn't even concern for Sam right now, that would only distract him. now he was relying on experience and heavy training, and he was confident both would carry him through. He might be fighting a regular guy war, but if Justin's whole end game was to take on the council, and have Dean be the infantry, he had to be confident in the fact he was trained to fight wizards and wardens, whether he realized it or not. Because Justin didn't know the definition of the word failure.

John knew what war was like. Honest to god kill or be killed war. Wizards and Wardens were a new twist, but the end result was the same. You kill them before they had the chance to kill you. However he didn't have the faith in Justin that Dean did. Sure Justin didn't know the definition of failure, but was Dean an expendable pawn in Justin's game? Mary had been afraid of her brother, considered him dangerous and evil. John's experience backed up his late wife's feelings. But there was no time for such speculation.

Dean made the sign that he'd spotted the first batch of perimter patrols. Once that was breeched, their arrival would be announced. But he took a deep breath and waded in. The first wave would be easy, they'd be unprepared and much more likely to be vulnerable. It would only get harder from there as he took out the first warden who crossed his path. The important thing was to separate them from their wands. Then the playing field would be a bit more level.

John followed closely at his son's side. Once they were inside and secrecy was no longer an option he opened fire on anything that crossed their path. If they didn't have a chance to throw a spell then they didn't have a problem. Fortunately Dean was resistant to magic. Because they couldn't be lucky all the time. Not in a fight like this.

Because of the null spell, Dean positioned himself slightly in front of his father. Spells hit him and bounced off. They were making slow progress through the compound, but they were making progress. Dean watched how the wardens positioned themselves, where they glanced to, to give him cues on where to go. They knew Dean and John were here for Sam, so they would try to secure that area the most.

Even if spells had no affect on Dean, he was still taking heavy physical damage. But the goal was Sam, and Dean kept going. It had started with his father, fostered by Justin, but Dean's only concern and only goal right now was Sam.

* * *

Harry had managed to wait 5 minutes before he had started out the door. He paused to look at Justin. "Are you coming or are we going to let them turn this into a suicide mission?"

"It won't be a suicide mission." Justin said, still seated. "An hour? No. But more than five minutes, Harry. Thirty. We need to let the wardens think they're only taking on Dean and John, or it's all in vain. We all lose, and we lose Sam. Have a seat." 

"How can you be so calm about this? In those 30 minutes Dean could be killed because we are sitting on our thumbs." He countered, not going anywhere near the chair Justin was suggesting.

"Because it's useless to get upset." Justin said. "Dean will survive. There's no power anywhere in the world, in heaven or hell that can keep him from his brother. And no, I didn't plant that seed in him if that's your next accusation. He's highly trained, highly motivated. Thirty minutes." 

"They may not be able to keep him from Sam but nothing says he'll survive the reunion." He leaned against the wall, not comfortable with waiting. "When we get there... what is your plan?"

"There should be no wardens standing. Or if they are standing, just barely." Justin said. "Therefore, we follow the piles of bodies and back Dean up as he'll need when he gets to the council. We should get there before he gets that far, allowing us to take over and fight magic to magic." 

Harry nodded and clutched his unorthodox staff and wand. They were life savers in combat magic. Sometimes quite literally. He had prepared a few spells that Bob had worked out with him. Some of them were skirting shades of gray but not completely black. He would feel bad about it but sometimes there wasn't much choice.

*****************

Ancient Mei heard the commotion and smiled to herself as she went into the room where Sam was being....interrogated. "Your brother and your father are here. Tell me what I want to know and they'll live. Otherwise, they'll die quite painfully. And messy. Should you manage to escape, you'll have to step over their entrails."

Sam managed to lift his head "Go to hell." He knew if he gave her what she wanted his brother and father were dead. So was he for that matter. Followed by the rest of the world in short order. He leaned back in the chair, glaring at her, letting the anger wash over him. "Last chance to end this now." He told her, as his eyes darkened to near black.

"Samuel, I know Justin Morningway taught you manners. He may have failed with your brother but I thought he would have succeeded with you." Ancient Mei said. "Now tell me." She said, applying pressure, even as the interrogators began to get twitchy.

He groaned, then lifted his head sharply, eyes completely black, even though secured to the chair he shoved her away from him, with his mind. "You call them off my family, now." His head was swimming, hurting, almost more than the torture they had been applying. He didn't know where this had come from and at that moment he didn't care.

Ancient Mei backed up against the wall. "Destroy them all." She said. Whatever Sam was....those black eyes....had to be evil. 

That was all it took. "NO!" Sam roared, pulling free of the restraints, and getting to his feet. He looked at the interrogators, who had no chance of leaving the room from the moment she gave that order. Sam's only thought was to prevent it from being carried out, no matter what the cost. "Fucking reptile, bitch." He closed the distance between them. "You have no idea what you have started "

"Now you're acting just like a Morningway." Ancient Mei said, choking down her fear. "Go ahead and do it, Sam. We always knew it was in you. Now we have the proof we need."

"You bring me here, torture me, threaten to kill my family and you act like I'm the evil one. And for the record... this is being a Winchester." He said as he grabbed her by the arm and turned her around with her back to him. "We're going to walk out of here, and you are going to call off the dogs as we go. "

Ancient Mei laughed. "Yes, let's walk out there. Let your demon hunter brother see you with black eyes." Ancient Mei said. "This will be worth my death at your hands." 

"I'm no demon. I'm not possessed. " He didn't know the color of his eyes. He also didn't believe Dean could ever hurt him intentionally. He directed her out the door, and looked both ways before stepping out himself. "Tell your bull dogs to back off, and put down their weapons and wands and staves."

"No." Ancient Mei said. She could still hear the Winchesters fighting their way in.

"Do it or I will rip your arms off like the wings of a fly. " His voice was different, he practically purred the words into her ears. "There are worse things than death. Isn't that what you people have been telling me for days now?"

Dean and John broke through the final door, barely standing. Dean could barely see, his eyes were swollen nearly shut and had blood flowing freely into them. But they'd made it, Dean knew that as he saw Sam. Kinda saw Sam at any rate.

John checked at the sight. His vision was a bit clearer than Dean's. It couldn't be, it was a trick. And he wouldn't fall for it. Not Sammy. 

"Are there any others out there left alive?" Sam asked. "It's not the entire council but it is everyone here." He told them, his own injuries were less obvious, done for inflicting the most pain, not the most damage.

"Yeah." John said carefully. "Everyone's cooling out there. Sam, we should go." 

"I have to contact Merlin." He said. "He has to be told what she has been up to. " He was beginning to calm down, the darkness leaving his eyes. "We have to find the the other sarcophagus before Justin does. "

There was a thud as Dean's injuries finally took a toll on him and he slumped to the ground. Sam was alright, everything was under control, the adrenaline left him. Harry and Justin were coming in then.

"Again with the mistrust, Sam?" Justin asked. "Ancient Mei, you've been a very bad magus. Sam, collect your brother, we need to get him to a hospital. I'll deal with Mei." He didn't want Sam to have that on his conscience, he was such a gentle boy.

Sam looked to Justin. "Merlin has to be told or he will assume this was a coup.. and blame us." He said as he went to Dean. The words Dean and Hospital trumped everything else. "I'm serious."

"I'll make sure he's told." Harry said. For some reason Merlin liked him. Or at least didn't hate him. He figured he would have the best chance of making it out of the conversation alive. "Get out of here. All three of you. We'll handle the rest of this."

John nodded. He wanted no part in magical justice or retribution. And he wanted his sons far away from it all. He helped load Dean into the car Justin and Harry had brought, the one he had arrived in was parked further away. "Your brother's plan." John said, once he was assured Dean was still breathing. "He wouldn't be swayed from it and we didn't have time to come up with a better one."

Sam nodded, "Lets just get him to a hospital. Can you drive?" He asked his father, not knowing how badly John was injured. The man was worse than Dean about hiding it. "Thanks for coming for me. "

"You're my son. I'll always come." John said as he got into the driver's seat. It wouldn't be a comfortable drive. "Where are you hurt?"

"All over more than anywhere else." Sam said getting Dean settled in the back seat and joining him there. "But it's all superficial. Nothing to worry about."

"And if your brother were awake, he'd say the same thing." John pointed out as Dean stirred a bit.

"I'm fine." He slurred out. "Honest."

"Just relax... you can hit on the nurses. You'll love it." Sam said, then sighed. "They weren't trying to kill me. They were trying to get answers. It's superficial. Once you two are looked after I'll let them take a look at me."

"Lay back and relax, Dean." John ordered. "We got Sam, it's all over." The ferocity in which Dean had fought scared John in some ways. But there was time for that later. "You bet you're going to let them take a look at you. There is no option."

"You two first. It's nothing. Just cuts and bruises. Nothing deep." Magic helped with interrogation processes, leaving the victim relatively in tact. "I trust Harry to contact Merlin but I don't trust Justin with the artifacts. He's gonna try and turn this into a coup. "

"Harry's with Justin." John said. "Hopefully that will stop any of that. And only you know where the last one is anyway, so it couldn't be a complete coup."

Sam nodded. "Right... okay... " He said, making himself breathe deeply and calm himself. "I'm sorry I didn't tell anyone what I did, but I figured that would be a bad plan. "

"You were right, Sam." John said. He knew if Dean knew, all it would take is a threat against Sam and he might sing like a canary. Or maybe not. It was hard to tell with Dean sometimes. "Your brother will be okay."

"I know... but it could have gone the other way so easily. He has to stop doing this Dad... He has to stop trying to kill himself to save me."

John wanted to point out that if Sam kept himself safe, it wouldn't have come to this. But that would have started an argument on how this time it was unavoidable. This time. But he didn't. "We'll work on it." He said instead.

Sam nodded. "Can you drive faster?" He asked, reading his father's tone, and grateful that he didn't follow it up with words. He didn't go out of his way to get into danger. He didn't try to get hurt or captured or cursed. He couldn't live in a plastic bubble any more than Dean could.

"I'm driving as fast as I can." John said. "Luckily, your brother has connections. Call his doctor and have him meet us here. We're outside Beijing. We can bluff the staff here, won't be hard, we don't speak the language."

"Right." Sam said. "You do know that cell phones don't work for me, right?" Sam countered. "The one Dean gave me that was engineered for me was busted when I was taken. I need a land line to make a call."

John sighed. "Look for a hospital then." He said as he blindly went through Dean's bag to find his cell phone. "Hi, this is John Winchester. Yes, Dean's father. He's hurt. Yes, again. We're in Beijing. No, don't ask why we're here. We're taking him to the hospital here, once we find one. Okay. We'll keep things calm until you get there." John said and hung up the phone. "He gave us the name of a hospital." He said, giving it to Sam. "So look for that, he knows one of the attendings there or something."

"There's a hospital road sign there. Follow that street, watch out for the bicyclists." Sam said, checking Dean's pulse once again. His brother was pale and it worried him. He was unconscious, but at least he was breathing. He had to hold on to that.

John veered around bicyclists, nearly taking a few of them out with the rental car. But given a choice, he'd value his son's life over that of a stranger's any day. He pulled into what he guessed was the emergency entrance. "Okay, hopefully someone speaks some English around here." 

"Yeah cause all I can manage in chinese is hello and thank you." Sam said as he got out of the car and gently pulled Dean out after him. "Didn't happen to mention the name of the attending did he?" Hospitals were a bad place for Sam to be. A really bad place.

"Dr Xiao." John said as he took Dean. "Watch out for Justin and Harry. At least Harry should be coming." He doubted if Justin would come, he was convinced any affection Justin showed toward his sons was only for show and for an ulterior motive. And that ulterior motive would get his sons killed.

"Yeah..." Sam got the attention of the nearest nurse. "Dr. Xiao. We need to see Dr Xiao..." He hoped she understood him but at least she would understand the name.

The nurse left, hopefully to find this Dr Xiao and John looked at Sam. The last time Dean had been in the hospital, he hadn't had anything hi tech. He basically owned the hospital, so he was in a room on a floor with no hi tech equipment at all, because Dean understood that part of Sam. But now, there was no way around it. Sam would have to wait outside. John hated to put Sam in that position, but it was unavoidable. "There's a payphone across the street." John said. "Harry by chance doesn't have a souped up cell phone, does he?"

"Yeah... Dean had one made for him. I'll... call and... be back out here in the waiting room." He said knowing this was how it had to be. He ran across the street because if he put it off any longer he wouldn't be able to make himself leave Dean's side, even if it was required. Fortunately it was one of those phones that took credit cards and soon he was waiting impatiently for Harry to answer, while John was waiting with equal impatience for a doctor.

"Hello?" Harry said, seeing an unfamiliar number on the phone. "Sam? Is that you? Well, at least China still has payphones. How's Dean?" He said.

"We took him to the hospital... which means I can't be in there. Dad's with him. He was unconscious... pale... but breathing with a heart beat. The best I can tell you. His doctor is flying over now. Knows some doctor here that he recommended. What's going on there?"

"We just got done cleaning house." Harry said. "There are a few council members that weren't here. But a lot were. Merlin wasn't here, obviously. A few others. We all got what we wanted. You're safe, and Justin got his dismissal of the council moment." 

"It's a start. We need to relocate those artifacts. Lose them in different places all over the world. " Sam said. He didn't want any one person to be able to wield the power of those things. It would destroy everything they knew or thought they knew.

"They were in different parts of the world." Harry said. "We have to figure out how to destroy them."

"I'm not sure we can." Sam said. "But... we'll sort it out...once we get Dean home and safe. " Alive, safe and no longer needing mechanical devices that Sam could not come within 20 feet of without making them malfunction.

"I'm sorry, Sam. I should have come up with a better plan before he took off." Harry said. That was Sam's brother, and they had a connection that Harry couldn't hope to begin to understand. But Dean was also Harry's cousin.

"It's not your fault. I know how Dad and Dean think. They would have just found a way to undo your plan and use theirs anyway." Sam said with a sigh.

"I know, I know." Harry said. "Well, bug the doctor and see if we can bring him somewhere low tech soon."

"Once Dean's actual doctor gets here that's what I'll do, in the mean time I have to ... wait it out and let them do their job. I hate not being able to be in there. " It was his fault that his brother was hurt. He knew that. His father knew that. It was in his eyes whether he said it or not.

"It's better that you're not." Harry said. "Magic aside. You're a soft mark for your brother, he'd convince you to not only let him escape, but help him."

"Not this time... god he looks terrible Harry... you guys shouldn't have come. Sometimes ... sometimes you just have to let go."

"Not an option." Harry said. "Dean will be fine. He always pulls through. And when he does, I dare you to tell him that."

"Believe me, I will." Sam said. "Losing my entire family in an insane attempt to save me isn't an option either. They would have used you all against me. "

"And one day they might use you against any of us." Harry said. "That's what family is. Liabilities and weaknesses that we love."

"Have you gotten ahold of Merlin? What did he have to say?" Sam asked, changing the subject. He had to make sure that the family understood that this was not acceptable. That they had to take better care of Dean. But there would be time for that. This wasn't that time.

"He's shocked. Dismayed. Angry." Harry said. "He wants to see us all as soon as possible."

"Right.. okay... as soon as I am sure Dean is alright we can arrange a meeting. I assume he means the three of us, not Dad and Dean as well. " His father would be the last person he wanted meeting Merlin. Talk about getting out of hand.

"He did suggest Dean. Since Dean led the strike force into there. Your father...probably not a good idea." Harry said.

""Dean led the strike force because they had me held prisoner. If there is anyone they feel should be blamed for that it's me. Not Dean."

"Merlin wants information. I don't think he's looking to blame anyone." Harry said.

"Yeah... okay.... he's gonna have to wait a while if he wants to talk to Dean." He said. "No telling how long it will take for him to be in a place wizards can safely get to." Safely for Dean that is. Could be a couple hours, could be weeks.

"I made it clear that until we're all together, no one's talking to anyone." Harry said. "I expect Justin to break rank, but that can't be avoided. There a coffee shop or something around there, figure we can wait together until we have information on Dean."

"Yeah, that's Justin. It'll bite him in the ass later. Not my problem." Merlin wasn't someone Justin could shmooze, or glide around. The name wasn't a title. He WAS Merlin, and Sam suspected that he had learned his lesson with Uther Pendragon long ago.

"Not mine either." Harry agreed. "Find a coffee shop close by, I'll meet you there. I've got the cell, right? We can bother John to give us minute updates."

"Yeah." Sam said. "I'm gonna see if there is any word... then head over there. " He knew he couldn't go beyond the emergency room waiting room but he could go that far and ask questions. He hung up and hurried back across the street. Chinese, why hadn't he learned to speak chinese? No, he had chosen, spanish, german, and French. Latin and in his case hebrew, were obligatory for a wizard. But no one had thought that he would need chinese. In that moment he thought he needed to know chinese more than he had needed to know any of the other languages he had ever learned.

It was a game of pantomime with one of the doctors who spoke broken english at best. "Ah." The doctor finally said and called back. "Still working." He said carefully. "No news. Doctor Xiao very busy."

Sam nodded and told the man thank you, one of the few words he knew in chinese. Thank you and hello. Both from children's television he had watched before they had been adopted by Justin. "I will be next door waiting for my father to call when there is news." he told them hoping it would translate and get to his father.

The doctor nodded, and hoped he got the message right.


	20. Chapter 20

Authors' Note: Remember, reviews keep us going. Especially when we get stuck.

Harry was waiting in the coffee shop. More like a tea shop, but the same concept really. "Let me guess." Harry said, seeing Sam's stormy face. "No word?"

"No, nothing yet." Sam said taking a seat at Harry's table. "Not that I could have understood what they were saying if they did have word. God... I almost feel sorry for them, dealing with Dad in there."

"I do feel sorry for them." Harry said with a laugh. "Great tea in here. You should grab a cup; we've got nothing but time to waste."

Sam nodded and went to place his order, coming back a few minutes later with a cup of green tea, with some things added that were supposed to sooth jangled nerves. He had his own issues from the abduction to deal with. Even though he pushed it out of his mind, shoved it aside, just like the physical pain. "Where's Justin?"

"He's meeting with Merlin. Smoothing over feathers. No one likes to hear that their council just tried to end the world and tortured a fellow council member." Harry said.

"Yeah I know." Sam said. "No one likes to feel like they have been made a fool of, even if it's not really the case. No one, not even Merlin can be everywhere at once." Sam leaned back in his seat. Harry... I scared Mei. I don't know what it was but just as you guys were about to arrive... she was terrified..."

"Wow." Harry said. "No idea? By the time we, Justin and I, got there, the dust was starting to settle."

"She threatened to kill my family... all of you... I lost my temper... but it's not like it was the first time it happened while I was there, believe me. But I don't know either. She said something about Dean would be hunting me if he saw me..."

"Or she was bullshitting you as a last resort." Harry suggested. "Dean hunt you? That's out of left field. Hunt you down maybe." 

"Yeah... I don't know... another head game I guess... I'm tired, probably was just an easy mark. Something to mess with me. I just want this to be over and done with."

"It almost is. Dean will be fine. He'll pull through. Then we'll figure out what to do with the sepulchers." Harry assured him. Sam was like a lost little boy in this moment, he didn't take his eyes off the hospital. Much like when they first came to Justin's, whenever Dean would leave the room, Sam would intently watch the door. He took out the engineered cell phone and called John. "Any news yet? I'm with Sam across the street."

"It's not good." John said quietly. "They are prepping him for surgery now. He has a ruptured spleen, there is damage to the liver and kidneys but they won't know how bad until they go in..." there was the sound of someone speaking to John in the back ground. "Get your damned hands off me. I told you, you can stitch me up later." He said in a cold, almost menacing tone.

"John." Harry said firmly. "Get yourself taken care of. I mean it. While Dean's under there's nothing you can do. Get yourself taken care of."

"You and Sam can't be in here. There is no one else that can be here for anything the doctors might need to know... I'm fine. You just take care of Sam. How does he look? Does he need to get to a doctor himself?"

"He seems fine. Probably in a way his brother always says he's fine. I'll be taking him over to a mystic soon enough. They won't try to x-ray him." Harry said. "John, stop and think. For once Dean is going to need you to take care of him, not the other way around. You need to be in a position where Dean doesn't try to take care of you. Not after this. Got it?"

"I understand that. And once he is in the clear, I will go and get looked at." If it went south he didn't want to be unconscious or some other damned fool thing, while his son was ... well... that just wasn't going to happen, because he wasn't going to tempt fate again. "I will say this... Justin better hope it's a good long while before I see him again. He planned for Dean to go up against the entire damned council alone and he damned near died with all of us there and what... about two thirds of the council there."

"Yeah, I know." Harry said. "Believe me, I know. I was never in support of this plan in the first place, remember? Justin and Merlin are probably glaring at each other right now, but that's not my problem. I've got Sam. You've got Dean. We need to keep them safe. Because neither is in a position to do so." Undoubtedly John was hurt. No way couldn't he be. Not given the state of Dean. But Harry's first priorities were always his cousins, not either uncle he didn't really like.

"Get Sam over to that mystic you mentioned. Make sure they didn't do something... lasting." He said, remembering the curse that had been placed on him before. "I'll call as soon as I know anything." John promised. He didn't care for Harry, or his attitude, but he couldn't deny that the man cared for his sons. Enough to stand up to him, to Justin and probably anyone else that he felt he had to as well. Combine that with the fact that he was Connie's best friend and there really wasn't much he could do but get used to the guy.

"I'll get him there. Again, take care of yourself." Harry said and hung up the phone. "They're taking Dean into surgery." He said simply to Sam. He was going to try to not tell the younger man how bad off his brother was. 

Sam frowned. Well, frowned more, if that was actually possible. "Surgery... what are they having to go in for?" He asked. "And exactly how bad is my father that you have to lecture him about taking care of himself?" Most people never found out when John Winchester was hurt, that is if he was conscious at the time. If he was conscious, he could hide it.

"He was yelling at someone, probably a poor nurse, to keep their hands off him and he'd agree to be stitched up when he was good and ready." Harry said. "Which means he's at least visibly bleeding. Which we knew. But we should go check out a local mystic, get you checked out."

"I'm fine." Sam said in true Winchester fashion. "I'll worry about that when I know how Dean is doing. What is Dean's surgery for?"

"Do you always have to ask direct questions?" Harry asked, running a hand through his hair. "Something about his liver, and kidneys, they're going to take a look around. His spleen's a goner, but honestly, I'm surprised he's kept it this long." 

Sam drew a deep breath. "Okay... spleen... don't really need it... but if it's damaged, it's gonna kill you... it's like the appendix that way." He said running a hand through his hair. "The rest of it... I'm not going anywhere until we find out how he is."

"I'm going to say the same thing I said to John. He's probably going to be in there a while. And when he comes out, he's going to need all of us. Then is not the time to get checked out and find out something's wrong that's going to take you away." Harry said. "We have time. Now. Neither of us can do anything but that."

"I'm not hurt... it was all superficial..." he said quietly."They had no plans to kill me... they wouldn't because they couldn't get information out of a dead man." Dean was near death and it didn't have to be that way. "There isn't anything to worry about where I'm concerned."

"You say that like you honestly believe that death is the worst possible thing that could happen to you." Harry said, shaking his head. "Come on, we're going."

Sam let Harry lead him out of the tea shop, because he realized there really wasn't much choice. There were times that Harry just wouldn't take no for an answer and this was one of them. "You get to China often?" He asked.

"No, but the Jade Court is here. They keep to themselves, but they'll help out if needed. And it's needed." Harry said. "As long as we don't bother them, and keep to ourselves, they'll keep to themselves. We're not looking for an alliance, or information, or secrets, we're looking for help, it's different."

Sam nodded. "Please tell me we aren't riding bicycles there." He said almost sounding like the sullen teenager he had once been, even as he looked over at the hospital as though he could glean information from staring at its walls.

Harry raised an eyebrow at that. "It would be faster. But we'll walk." Harry said. "I made calls before I got here; I've got an emissary meeting me about ten blocks from here."

"I need air... need to breathe... think..." Mostly needed to be in control and not feel like he was part of a school of fish pedaling up stream.

"Okay, we'll walk." Harry said, keeping a close eye on his cousin. Like his brother and his father, he'd hide injuries the first chance he got. And magically caused injuries were harder to see in the first place. "Dean's going to be okay." Harry said. Because to think the opposite would cause his own reality to break apart.

Sam nodded. He was exhausted. So very exhausted. "Yeah... He'll be fine. Dean's always fine. Even when he is dying Dean is always fine." He said, trying not to sound surly or petulant. But he was so tired of hearing how his brother was fine when he was anything but. They were trying to reassure him, but it wasn't really working. Not really.

"And maybe I'm just trying to reassure myself." Harry said quietly. Sam and Dean were family. And they'd been part of his life for a long time now.

"I'm sorry." He said with a sigh. "I'm tired. I shouldn't be taking it out on you." Once he knew Dean was okay, and they were on their way home he just wanted to sleep. He knew that if he didn't wait for those conditions, he would be plagued by nightmares instead of resting though.

"I'm not patronizing you. I have to believe that Dean will be okay because I can't think about the alternative. And I also figure he needs as much positive thoughts as possible." Harry said placatingly. "It's either we just keep repeating he's going to be fine like a mantra, or we might start thinking about the other alternative. Maybe Dean's got a point, with his whole 'I'm fine' thing. If he thinks it enough, he'll believe it, and it will happen."

Sam actually laughed a little. "The problem is... that Dean uses it as an excuse not to take care of the problem. If he is fine, he doesn't need medical attention at all. So those words automatically make me think I need to worry these days. Cause it really is a mantra."

"Dean likes to think no one needs to worry about him. Truth is, we all worry about him. Probably even Justin in his own way." Harry allowed. "Then again, if Justin did a little less worrying, we wouldn't have to worry so much, but Justin did get the dog....oh god....the dogs are on the jet. Dean is going to kill us."

"We have to get a hotel room anyway. We'll have them brought there. I hope Dad thought to have ours looked after when he took off." His father tended to be single minded.

"They're on there too. His and yours. Which means Max is running the place. Hopefully she'll behave. Then the rest of them will behave." Justin said with a bit of a laugh. "Well, Dean's got plenty of money; we'll just rent out a floor somewhere. He'll need quiet when he's able to get out of there." 

"She's only behaving because she's getting old." Sam told him. "Otherwise she would be looking everywhere for him and telling whoever was there to listen that they needed to go get him yesterday. Pugs are very good at communicating their points."

"Max especially. Dean swears she can talk." Harry said. "Like English talk. I told him he's had one too many head injuries." He said with a chuckle as he met with the Jade Court envoy.

"Sometimes I think he's right. Not sentences but definite words." Sam said and fell silent as he looked at the vampire; he figured Harry could handle this. He hoped. Right now he couldn't handle any more surprises his nerves were too on edge still.

Harry spoke to the vampire for a bit. "Okay, we've got a mystic to go to." He said to Sam, writing down the address on a receipt for bread he found in his pocket. "Then we can get back to the hospital."

"Okay." Sam said with a sigh. He actually thought the burr of the of the bicycle wheels spinning past was actually more distracting and louder than the car filled streets of Chicago. He had gotten used to their steady drone throughout his life. It was too busy around him right now. Too much noise, it was almost like listening to EVP.

Harry followed the directions off the main city streets. He wanted to suggest getting a bike, it would be faster, but he knew Sam wasn't up for it right now. So it was a bit of a hike to the tea shop where old men were playing mah jong on the side walk. Harry led Sam inside and explained the situation to the mystic quickly.

They were motioned into the back room, where one of the mystics maneuvered Sam into a chair and started to walk around him. "Very out of balance." He said in perfect English even if accented. "Your energy is out of balance. Swirling with blackness like a sickness in the blood."

"Can you fix it?" Harry asked. "I knew they messed with you, Sam." Which was vindication for making him come here.

"I do not know. It will take time regardless." He said as he went to prepare a powder. Taking herbs and roots from various places. "But we will start here."

"I'm fine." Sam said. "I was tortured for several days; my brother is near death, so I am in a foul mood. They were messing with my energy as part of the torture I guess, causing pain without causing damage...It'll pass."

"No... it will not. Not on its own." The mystic said as he added hot water to the mixture.

"Sam, just drink whatever he gives you." Harry said. "Whatever they did, it needs to be fixed. Remember when Branwen decided to mess with you?"

"I remember." Sam said as he took the cup and downed it quickly. He just wanted this over with, wanted to go home, with his family and forget this ever happened. But that was a long time coming. This ordeal was far from over.

Harry sighed in relief as Sam drank it without argument. "How long is this going to take? His brother is really not doing well."

"Is hard to say. Perhaps one treatment, maybe more.... cleansing ritual is recommended but he is a strong wizard, as are you, so you should be able to manage that part of it on your own. "

Harry nodded. "All right. Thank you." Harry said as the old Chinese mystic appraised Sam.

"More than one. His qi is off." The mystic said. "Very off. You need balance in your life." He said to Sam with a nod. "More light."

"I try." Sam said sheepishly. "It's not always as easy as it sounds." He admitted. Something about the mystic made him feel comfortable, almost safe. Ironic in a way, when his own family couldn't do that. Not right now.

The mystic put his aged hand over Sam's heart. "If the darkness goes here, it's all lost." He said. "Everyone and everything will be lost. Remember that."

Sam frowned, puzzled by what the man was saying. "Okay... I'll remember that. So... what was it I just drank? How often will I need to take it?"

"A mixture of herbs and potion." The mystic said and wrote it down. "Drink it often. It will help." He said sadly, afraid it wouldn't help enough.

"What did they do to me?" He asked, hearing the sad note in the man's voice. It just figured they would do something to try and twist him to the darkness.

"I am not sure they did it." The mystic said. "I am not sure at all. Find your balance, find your light. Resist the darkness. It is the only thing I can tell you."

"Thank you." Sam said looking over the recipe and pocketing it. "Something scared Mei... maybe that's what she saw." He suggested to Harry.

"We'll never know." Harry admitted. Though right now, he'd love to question her. If only to put Sam's mind at ease.

"I know... thank you." He said the last to the mystic. "But I need to get over to the hospital to check on my brother." He had been away far too long as it was.

"Be cautious." The mystic said as Harry called John.

Sam nodded "Yeah... yeah I will." He said, but Harry had his complete attention at that moment. He was hoping that there would be word but he knew that it was probably too soon. These things could drag on for hours. Which in turn felt like days as far as Sam was concerned.

"John, it's Harry. How's Dean? Any word? Is he out of surgery?" Harry said. "I've got Sam taken care of." As much as he could at any rate. "How's Dean?" Harry asked again. The answers weren't coming fast enough for him.

Dean heard every word. He was still in surgery. It wasn't going well. But he was standing by his father and could hear Harry's urgent tone through the phone. "Sam's okay? Dammit, Dad, ask if Sammy's okay!"

"He's still in surgery. It's touch and go, Harry." John said raggedly. "How's Sammy holding up? Is he okay?" John was tired. He didn't like feeling helpless, and that's what he was at the moment. Completely helpless to do anything for either of his children.

"Finally!" Dean said when John moved beyond talking about Dean and got to the important subject.

"He's...well....about as well as you." Harry said. "I took him to a mystic, so in that regard he'll be okay." He wasn't going to dump a possible language barrier addled warning on John. Not right now. "But I'm going to kill Justin."

"I'll come with you. Make sure it sticks this time." John growled lowly. "Almost afraid to ask if it's something new the bastard has done or just the fact that he took the boys and raised them to die for him."

"The last part isn't enough?" Harry said. "It's enough for me. You hunters may have a point, what's dead should stay dead."

"Yeah, can we not go there, at least now?" Dean said with a sigh as he listened to the conversation.

"Let's get the boys stable and tucked away and then we can deal with Justin." Something in the way John said 'deal with' was at once heated and ice cold.

"Well, I'm glad you merely dislike me and don't hate me." Harry said with a bit of a chuckle, hearing that tone John used.

"I don't like many people. Don't take it personally." He didn't really hate many people either. In fact there was only one that he actively hated in that moment. Two if you counted himself. "I'll call as soon as I know anything. Take Sam somewhere and make him get some rest. He looked a little green when we found him. "

"He's not going to rest until we know more about Dean." Harry said. "You know that. But I'll keep an eye on him. Maybe bring him to the hospice floor or something, they're low tech there, we can wait in the waiting room there, so at least we're in the hospital."

"Yeah, alright. At least there if he passes out or something they can take care of him." He had a hard time believing that his son was as fine as he claimed to be. He figured Sam was in shock and the moment Dean was proclaimed well or otherwise Sam would collapse in a heap.

"And what about you? Did you get yourself taken care of?" Harry asked, hearing John's tone. The boys got that from somewhere after all.

"They managed to make me sit though an examination and I promised to let them stitch me up after Dean is settled in recovery." That was as close as John had been willing to go. The rest was just going to have to wait. He had been worse off.

"You're a great example." Harry said. Dean tried to snatch the phone and his hand passed right through it, causing static on both ends. "John? Are you still there? Can you hear me?" He said, pulling the phone away from his ear at the whine of static.

"Yeah... you heard that too?" It was interference but it wasn't normal. "Think there may be a haunting going on here. Hospitals. Places are full of ghosts." Hard to mess with Chinese spirits. They were on a different ... world so to speak. Unless they were violent their families wanted them around.

"Dammit it's me!" Dean shouted. "I'm not a ghost! Can anyone hear me? Come on!"

"Yeah, maybe." Harry said. "Keep us updated. Even if you don't have anything new to tell us, Sam needs to hear that things haven't gone south."

"Will do. I'll call soon. This could take several hours." John said. "Get him to eat something. If you have to drug it, to get him to rest, do it. Won't be the first time that's happened."

Harry rubbed his temple. "I know." He said with a sigh. "Thanks, John."

"You too." He said and hung up. John sighed and sank into the nearest chair. He looked twice his age as his worry for his sons etched into his face. "You gotta come through this, Dean." He muttered.

"Dammit Dad." Dean said, pacing in front of his father. "Go check on Sammy dammit. I hate this place!" He already felt like he was about to go insane, not being seen or heard.

"God Mary, I've made such a mess of things. You didn't want them to be a part of this... and I let you down." Now his sons were paying the price for his failure.

"Dude, you're playing the self guilt Mom card? Now?" Dean asked, frustrated because he knew he wasn't going to get an answer. "Okay, China. Respect for elders, they won't do the whole cleansing of spirits. Gotta be someone aged around here."

The hospital wasn't as haunted as one might expect. But there were several spirits near the intensive care unit, and emergency. They were waiting for loved ones to help them adjust to the afterlife.

Dean went to ICU. "Okay, anyone here speak English? I would love it if someone spoke English here. Even broken English. I speak broken Mandarin." He said as he repeated it in very broken Mandarin.

"Broken would be an understatement." An older man said to him in accented English. "But you should not be here. You are still living. You should go back to your body before something else takes residence."

"Yeah, I tried that." Dean said, relieved to talk to someone. "They've got me filleted open and all I can do is stare at me. Tubes, blood....I can't get back in. How do I get back in?"

"Ah... it's the machines. They interfere with the qi. They must have had to bring you back once. Once things are closed up and they take some of the machines away you should be able to re-enter. "

"I have to get back now. My family is falling apart." Dean said. "How do I get back now?" He had to check on Sam. But he was afraid to leave the hospital. He had to stay near his body. And Sam couldn't get near.

"If you are in surgery, getting back into your body this moment would do you no good. You would be sedated." The older man reasoned. "You must relax. It will speed your healing. Have you never been taught to ... well of course you haven't. You are American. "

Dean frowned. "Then teach me, Yoda." He said. He had one goal, to get back into his body and out of that operating room. Out of the hospital where he could get his family back on track. He couldn't do that while he was astrally translocated.

The old man chuckled softly. "Interesting correlation. Not entirely incorrect. But I do not have pointed ears." He led Dean away from the intensive care unit to a quiet place in hospital. "The first thing to remember... is everything is interconnected. Every one... every object that surrounds us is nothing more than energy and that energy flows between us as surely as the breath you exhale eventually becomes part of the breath another inhales. You have to learn to allow that energy to flow through you and from you."

Dean pondered that for a moment. "I'm a control freak." He said. "I run a multibillion dollar corporation. I hunt monsters. I fight black wizards. I don't want to share my energy with them, I need it all."

"And that is where you fail." He said. "You benefit from sharing energies, not that you can truly stop it, but when you actually control it, it becomes a powerful benefit for a warrior. Your anger rules you. Your guilt rules you. You do not rule you. "

"I couldn't stop my mother from dying. Being murdered by a demon." Dean said, looking at his feet. Not like this conversation would ever be repeated, the guy was waiting to cross over. "I couldn't stop my father from leaving. I couldn't see the lies my uncle told. I can't protect my brother. I don't 'rule' anything. But I need to."

"Good, then you will be a good student and do as I say. Even when you disagree. Even when it looks contrary to your desires. Because it is what must be done for you to rule yourself, and to align your essence with your skills. "

"You probably won't like my 'essence.'" Dean said. "I'm pretty sure I don't like my essence."

"Mmm... that's another thing to work on, for now let us start with relaxation." He said. "I realize that there is no breath as you have no body at the moment but the principle is the same. I am going to teach you to breathe."

"I've been breathing for a long time now." Dean pointed out. "Or at least I was. I got the handle on the breathing thing. In. Out. What's next?"

The man laughed again. "Yes but do you know what to do with that breath?" He said, and began to show him the first breathing exercise.

* * *

Justin's walking cane clicked on the tile of the hospice floor before it moved to carpet. But he sat across from Harry and Sam. Obviously there was no word on Dean yet. There should have been. "John won't approve, but there are people we can call." Justin said.

"I don't think having a wizard up there while Dean is on life support during surgery is the best idea." Sam said staring at the tile floor. Times like these were the only times he would have traded anything to not be a wizard any longer. He hated being trapped elsewhere when his brother or father was hurt.

"The life support wouldn't be needed." Justin said. Usually Sam was a bright boy, but it seemed he needed everything spelled out for him right now.

"It only takes a split second for him to die for the lights to go out and the knife to slip in the dark ... no. We wait. If Dean doesn't recover on his own, then we call people in and right now I don't think there are too many people I would trust to call in."

"Then we wait." Justin said. Because he knew John wouldn't take the suggestion any better than Sam had. "Though I still think it's a viable and quicker option."

"Sure, if we knew who we could actually trust, which we don't." Sam said, still staring at the floor. "Is this what you had planned all along, Uncle Justin?" He asked bluntly, lifting his head. "Were Dean and I cannon fodder for your coup? Did you need Morningway blood to do it and Harry wasn't hearing any of it?"

Justin was shocked. He expected this from Harry. Not Sam. "What? Sam, you can't believe that. The original plan did not have you being captured and tortured." He said, honestly hurt by that. "No one could make Dean see reason. All we could do was provide requested back up." Surely he knew his brother better than that. "I never wanted this. You, Dean, Harry...you're not cannon fodder. You're not disposable infantrymen. You are my nephews, and whether or not you believe it, I love you all."

"Sometimes I think you do. Sometimes I think it's what you tell yourself so that you can sleep at night. You took all of us from our fathers. You killed and lied and manipulated us. Hell you tried to kill Harry twice. "

"Samuel, that's enough." Justin said sharply. "This is not the place to fight. We're here to wait for news on Dean because this is the only place we can wait and be in the same location as him. If you think I am not worried, if you think I do not care, that's your blindness, not mine."

"I think the fact that you care makes it worse." Sam said getting up to walk. How did you do that to people you care about? "You trained him for this. You're not an idiot. You knew it could easily come to this." He started to walk away. He had always known there was something cold about Justin. But it had never bothered him as a child. Justin ran cold and his father ran hot. He had figured it was just nothing more than attitude on either part. Now he wasn't so sure about his uncle.

"Samuel, come sit down." Justin said firmly. "I never wanted this for Dean. Or you. Or Harry. I realized overtime it might come to it, but I didn't want it. When I first started training Dean, it was for his guilt and self doubt manifesting itself in aggression and anger. To control it, give it an outlet. And I did that for him. I got him a dog so he could keep that nurturing side of himself after you no longer constantly required it. I made sure you had the tools of your heritage, same as I did for Harry."

"Did you ever think that maybe he felt guilty because Dad supposedly left us?" Sam asked. "Did you think he might have felt angry about being abandoned? Oh wait... we weren't abandoned. We were kidnapped. But we were the lucky ones. Our father is still alive. You didn't have it so easy with Harry's father, did you?"

"Sam." Harry said gently. "Let's not start down that road right now." Not that he didn't agree with him, but it wasn't Sam talking. It was pain, anger, and probable a lot of emotion that had been hidden since he had been abducted.

"I gave my nephews a chance at life." Justin said. "A real life. Neither of my sisters would have wanted any of you to be living like you were. Now, maybe I went about it a little too mercilessly. And maybe I am too Machiavellian for a person's taste. But never doubt my intentions."

"The ends justifies the means, is that what you are saying? What gave you the right to do that to us... all of us? "

"Because I loved my sisters." Justin said. "And your fathers got them killed. Someone had to look out for their sons. Where would you be right now, Sam? Where would Dean be? Prison?"

Sam whirled on Justin, suddenly facing him down with very dark eyes. "My father is not responsible for my mother's death." He told him angrily. "Harry's father wasn't any more responsible than Dad was. You wanted a piece of your sisters so you took it. Don't you stand there taking credit for any good that has come from Dean and me. We are not your creations."

"You are my creations." Justin said. "Your intelligence, your gifts, your very core of personality have all been shaped by me. I am not someone you should wheel on and yell at, Samuel."

"Why? Because your so called affection might wane in the face of something you don't like? I have news for you. Dean and I were forged before we ever heard your name. We're Winchesters. You are family. You raised us. I guess I should say thank you for that. I would, except for the whole kidnapping thing. "

It suddenly dawned on Harry what the problem really was. "Justin... let it go... just let it go."

Justin shot a look at Harry but gave him a terse nod. "I'm going to call for coffee." He said instead. "Have a seat, Samuel. We're all worried about Dean and we're limited in where we can go. Besides, the coffee a hospital serves is horrible as a rule. Sit, Samuel. Please."

Sam glared at Justin, and continued pacing. "I've done enough sitting for the last few days." He said but didn't leave the area. He instead began pacing like a caged animal.

Justin nodded and called for refreshments. Or at least what he considered refreshments and light food. It filled the time, and things were tense. He didn't know how to defuse that. Strangely enough, with all of Dean's pent up aggression and self esteem problems; Dean was the diffuser of situations like this. "Has John called in the last ten minutes?"

"No." Harry said and approached Justin, motioning for him to follow him a little down the hall. He wanted to explain a few things to Justin without pointing out to Sam just how clueless their self proclaimed devoted uncle was. "I'm sure there is nothing new to report. He wouldn't leave Sam hanging."

Justin paced a bit himself. "I don't like not being in control, Harry. And right now, I can't control anything. I can't help Dean. Sam won't let me help him. Dean's plan was a bad plan, and we knew it. But it was the only one we had and the only one he'd go with."

"You have to give him time. He was just kidnapped and tortured. His brother is hanging to life by a thread. Now isn't the time to tell him to be grateful that you kidnapped him and raised him in the lap of luxury."

"I realize Sam's been through a trauma. A huge trauma." Justin said. "But now is not the time for us to fall apart."

"Neither is it the time to press certain issues. If Dean dies in there as it stands right now... we lose them both. Sam will disappear with John and we'll never see him again." Harry told him "Meanwhile we have other problems." He then explained what they had learned from the mystic.

Justin cursed. "That doesn't sound good at all." Justin said. "Ancient Mei was scared. Of Sam. She didn't elaborate. She wouldn't." She was one of the oldest and most powerful of wizards. There would have been no way to make her either.

"And that spooked him too. Someone did something to Sam to mess with his essence. And right now, I think he is looking at you as a possibility. If you step back and look at it objectively it makes sense. Not that I think you did. I don't think he really does either but he is scared and hurting."

"I didn't." Justin said. "He and his brother...they're the last pieces of my baby sister left in the world........." He said and trailed off. "Oh god, Mary."

"What is it?" Harry asked, glancing over at Sam to make sure he was alright.

"I don't know yet." Justin said, staring off over Harry's shoulder as he thought and processed. "When I do, I'll tell you. I promise. Mary was....she was a golden light in whatever room she walked into. Everyone loved her. Our father....Mary thought he had plans for her....of course I disagreed. But she left with the first Marine she tripped over, so she had to have been convinced of that. She wouldn't tell me what she thought those plans were, and my father and I never talked about it, or spoke of her with each other after she left....she left everything and everyone behind. It doesn't matter how romantic it sounded, it couldn't have all been for John Winchester. She was scared of something."

"She might have been scared, but don't discount the romance between their parents. Not in front of the boys especially. And for that matter, as much as I don't like John... he still loves her even after 2 decades have passed."

"That's not the issue." Justin said dismissively, still thinking. "If she wasn't scared, you never knew Mary. She was strong. She would have stayed and made us accept him."

Harry nodded "Alright, I'll give you that." He figured it was a family trait. "Sounds like something new we have to look into. Just exactly what was your father into that would frighten his own daughter?"

"I have no idea." Justin said honestly. "He never shared it with me. But it was something...." He sat down on a bench. "Mary was killed by a demon. It's what started John's madness. We know that. What if it's all connected?"

"A demon would be about the only thing that would scare Ancient Mei. But Sam isn't a demon... and he isn't possessed. What happened to your father's lab stuff?"

"Harry....it's not talked about. But your grandfather committed suicide. He burned most of his lab when he did it too." Justin said. "There are fragments left; they're sealed in the basement."

"Are you sure it was suicide? Sounds like when Aunt Mary died... if it was in a fire anyway. The demon may have had a hand in it. Either way we are going to have to look at those fragments and see what the hell he was up to."

"We need to get out of China first." Justin said. "And we're not leaving without Dean. Sam should really consider my option."

"Sam isn't going to consider anything involving magic here in China. Think about it." Harry said. "You aren't going to get your way on this one. Let it go."

"As if I were pushing it for selfish reasons." Justin sniffed. He wanted his nephew out of the operating room and saying he was fine. He wanted Sam to not lose Sam here in China. He wanted Harry to...well, what he wanted for and from Harry wouldn't happen here.

"That isn't the point, Justin." Harry said, wondering if the years in the ground had deadened his uncle's cognitive skills. "He was kidnapped and magically tortured; he isn't going to trust some stranger around his brother just because you say they can be trusted. Because you kidnapped him too. It has nothing to do with you... it has to do with kidnapping and magic." He said in a terse whisper.

"I do get that, Harry." Justin said. "But I also recognize how gravely injured Dean is. And that extreme measures might have to be taken."

"That may be, but Sam isn't in the state of mind to agree to it. We are going to have to wait until after the surgery to get anyone in there in the first place. So place your calls, have them on standby, but just... wait to spring them until they are needed."

Justin had been the major decision maker in the boys' lives. He'd made sure Sam had his training, and pulled strings to get Sam into Stanford. Sam was certainly smart enough, but due to his abilities there were adjustments that had to be made, given Stanford's reputation for technology. He made sure Dean followed him into the business, and had all the tools at his disposal. Even Harry, he'd funded Harry's travels of self discovery before Harry killed him. Now he had to wait for someone else to make a decision of vital importance concerning one of his nephews. "Is Dean's doctor here yet?" He asked instead of voicing his thoughts. "The man should be able to give us more information that John. It's not John's fault. He's neither a doctor nor a Chinese speaker." He said before Harry started on him about laying off John right now.

"I'll call and see what's going on with him. It takes time to get here from Chicago." He told Justin. "It's a long flight."

Much as expected the doctor was enroute, and not due to arrive for several hours.

Justin nodded. It was expected, but still disappointing. "Sam." He said as the food and drink arrived. "Please. Eat something. When Dean is out of surgery and awake," always when, never if, "he'll need all of us at our best if only to keep him in the bed."

Sam sighed, but took his food. He was anything but hungry. In fact his stomach rolled at the thought of it. But they wouldn't leave him alone until he ate something. So he began to eat.

Dean sat next to Sam, his personal Yoda on his other side. "This is why I have to get back." He said sadly.

"Your brother's qi has been damaged. In time you will be able to help him. But it will take time for you to learn what you need to learn. The others... they will be fine. Your family will not fall apart during the time that you are recovering. There is love there, even if it is strained."

"Am I going to remember any of this when I wake up?" Dean asked. "Because if not, it's pointless really."

"Much of it I am sure." He said. "Of course it's hard to say. I have never had a student that returned to the land of the living. You will be my first."

"Well, thanks." Dean said. "I mean that, really." He looked at his brother and put a hand on his shoulder. Kinda. "It's okay Sam. I'm going to be okay. And then we'll make sure you'll be okay too."

Sam actually seemed to relax when Dean touched him.

"He will be alright. You will be alright. It will just take time." The old man said. "Now, visualize your feelings for your brother, give it color, weight... feel... and see it flowing into him through your touch."

"Give my feelings colors?" Dean asked. "Wow, I am actually kinda glad you're dead. You can't go telling people." He said with a sigh. But he had said he would do what the man said, so he thought really hard. The only color he could come up with was a bluish color. The color of the ocean Justin had taken them to on vacation. Steady. Tranquil yet moving. He closed his eyes and just thought blue.

Visualized the energy seemed to take form, moving between him and his brother, mingling with Sam's energy, and the younger Winchester relaxed even more, breathing more evenly.

"Now... in your mind, imagine the colors of different things. Pain, illness, evil, good, deception, fear, love... you already instinctively know these things. But once you have those in your mind, I want you to look at your family and see their energy, before you attempt to feel it."

"If I wake up and want to redecorate everything I see, I am so not going to be happy." Dean said as he thought of everything. Just clearing his mind until everything became an image in his mind, rather than a concept. His family no longer had faces in his mind, but swirling colors of energy. He chuckled a bit. "Sam's going to be purple by the time we're done." He was such a bright angry red to start with.

"It's not going to change how you perceive colors but how you perceive energy and emotions. In time you won't see the energy as much as feel it. Consider the colors training wheels."

"Gotta warn you, I'm a violent man. This touchy feely stuff is not me, Yoda." Dean said honestly. "Don't put the expectations that high." His world was violence, to protect everyone important to him, he'd been forced to mold himself into that world, and most of the time, it offered a release he'd desperately needed.

"Don't mistake what I am teaching you as relationship therapy." The old man said with a chuckle. "Sensing energy can tell you what your opponent will do, if someone is waiting for you in the dark, if they are speaking the truth..."

"All useful things." Dean conceded with a nod. "I just wish I could do more than what I'm doing right now. Sam would be a lot calmer if I were awake." He said as he gasped, letting go of his brother. "I think the surgeons are losing..." He said.

"Don't let them." He said. "Go back to your body, don't let it die."

Dean nodded and stood up. Instinctively and impulsively, he bowed to the elderly man. "I hope your reincarnation is something great." He said.

"I was hoping for something... simple myself." He said with a smile. "Go... you have much ahead of you."

Dean ran off to the OR as John called Harry. "The nurse was trying to update me, they got a translator. Then they said something over the loudspeaker and she raced back there. The translator won't tell me what was freaking said." He said, running a hand through his hair for the umpteenth time in the last two minutes.

Harry's heart just about stopped in his chest. "Just hang in there. It's all we can do. Justin has some people that might be able to help; you want me to bring them in just in case?"

John had to stop and think about that. "I don't know." He said. "Sure, have them on call or whatever. But you vet them out. Justin's done enough damage to my sons."

"I will. Keep me informed." He told John and hung up, motioning for Justin to join him once again. He didn't like going around Sam like this but Sam was in no condition to make those decisions right now.

Justin went over to Harry. "Sam looks better." He said, observing the relaxation that had come over the boy.

"So who are these people you want to have heal Dean?" Harry asked, worriedly. Sam looked better but Dean was apparently not doing much better at all.

"Associates from Japan." Justin said. "I've already called them and they're on their way. Are they going to be needed?"

"It looks that way." Harry said and explained what John had told him. "Hopefully they will be here in time."

Justin nodded. "I hope so." He glanced at Sam. "He obviously doesn't know any of this."

"I don't think it would do any good to tell him. We can't go to Dean or be there to comfort John." Harry said quietly. "Sam's been through enough."

"I'm quite aware of that." Justin said as he went to sit by Sam, pouring himself a cup of tea. "According to John, no news as yet." He said to Sam, lying effortlessly, but at least it was for a good cause.

Harry paced, cell phone in hand waiting for the next call from John. Although at the moment no news was good news he figured. Dean was either crashing, or very close to it, and Harry could only hope that they pulled him through it.

Dean watched the operation. Everyone was moving fast, sponges and gauze just being thrown on the floor, blood soaked. The surgeon barking out orders. It looked like a well choreographed yet chaotic dance. But he had an idea. It worked on Sam. Maybe it could work on himself as he went over to his physical body, with all the tubes and wires and IVs. No machines, they were manually bagging him. He placed his hand on his arm, closed his eyes, and concentrated.

There was blinding pain. Pain to the point where he couldn't see. A tube was down his throat. He could feel so much pressure and pain all over his body as he tried to sit up, managing only to twitch his arms in the restraints.

"Get him out! Get him out!" The surgeon yelled and Dean felt himself fall back under. Falling into warm comforting darkness, wondering why he could understand Chinese... 


	21. Chapter 21

Dean had been in surgery for nearly 8 hours when the doctor emerged from the operating room, the translator at his side. "Mr. Winchester." The translator said, as the doctor spoke in Chinese "Your son has survived surgery. It was touch and go for a while, and he is weak, but we believe that he will pull through just fine. He is ultimately in good physical condition and strong will." The translator paled and turned to look at the doctor for a moment before continuing. "It seems that your son woke up during the operation as well..."

"He what?!" John roared. "Take me to my son. Now!" He ordered. Waking up during surgery? Now that was unacceptable. What had been going through Dean's mind? John couldn't even imagine, and he needed to see his son right then. Right now.

"He is in ICU and still unconscious." The translator explained. "But they will take you to his room. Only one visitor at a time and he must be allowed to rest."

"Oh, so now he sleeps. Now you have him asleep when you should have had him asleep when you were rearranging his internal organs." John shot back. "Well, better late than never. Yeah, we should definitely have a universal health care." He muttered as he followed them to the ICU. He spent a few moments staring at his son. Blood running in one arm. Fluids and medicine in another. The tube still down his throat. Bruised all to hell. And that's only what he could see. But he pulled up a chair and called Harry. "Put Sam on the phone." He said quietly.

Harry didn't ask. It was only right that Sam be the first to hear. The lack of anguish in John's voice gave him hope however. "Sam... it's your Dad." He said.

Sam took the phone. "Dad? How is he? What's going on?"

"He's out of surgery, Sammy." John said, and damnit if he wasn't blinking back tears of relief. "He's in the ICU, once they get the tube out of his throat, we'll get you in to see him. He's going to be fine, Sam."

Sam nearly slumped over when the tension left his body. "Thank God." He breathed. "Stay with him Dad... I don't know how far this thing has spread... don't trust anyone... They would come after him to get to me."

"I know. I'll lay down what I can here." John assured him. "You go to the jet. Get the dogs, rent out a whole damn hotel if you have to and fortify it."

"Right... okay... you are going to let the doctor take care of you now, right Dad?" He asked. "If Dean was that badly hurt, I know you aren't fine, no matter how much you say you are."

"Well, Dean had to get that nasty little habit from someone, right?" John said. "I will. I'll get checked out." After the tube was out, Dean woke up or his doctor arrived. Whichever came first.

"Okay... call me when you find out anything. You ... him... anything, okay?" Sam said as he got up and ran a hand through his dark hair.

"Absolutely." John said as he took up a vigil at his oldest son's bedside.

"Well?" Justin asked. It was obviously good news. The only question was, how good?

Sam said his good byes to his father and looked to Harry and Justin. "Dean pulled through. They say he will be alright. Right now he is in ICU on machines. When they take him off of them we can go and see him. Until then Dad suggested we rent out a hotel, get the dogs off the plane and set about fortifications."

Justin and Harry both breathed a sigh of relief at the news. "All right, we'll do that then." Harry said. "There's nothing we can do here, and Dean is stable." He pointed out.

Sam nodded. "Dad promised to be looked at but he won't until Dean is awake. I know him." He sighed. "But come on; let's start with getting the dogs. They are probably going insane by now."

"Justin, go find a hotel." Harry said. "We'll deal with the dogs." He said as he led Sam away and out of the hospital. Once outside, Harry leaned against the wall and exhaled sharply. "It was close this time." He said. They both knew it.

"I know. I thought I was being careful. I really did. I never meant to put any of you into danger that way. I certainly never mean for Dean to nearly get himself killed."

"It's not your fault, Sam. It's Justin's. He started this. He wanted a war on the council no matter what the cost." Harry said. "We're out. We have to be out. I'm not losing either one of you for Justin's ambitions."

"We may not have a choice." Sam said. "Things have a way of finding us even when we are avoiding them." He pointed out. "But I don't trust him, Harry. Not after all of this. We've been played all along."

"While I believe he didn't mean for this to happen, it's just another example of Justin doing what Justin wants without thinking of the consequences." Harry agreed. "What are the chances we can get Dean to move out of the mansion when he gets out?"

"Thin and none." Sam said. "Its his now, and he won't give it up to Justin just because he came back from the dead." Sam shook his head. Although he understood that one, why should Dean give up anything? Unfortunately there was no way to gracefully (which was to say without making an enemy of him) get Justin to move out either.

"We'll figure out something. We've got time." Harry said. "Let's go check on the dogs."

Sam nodded. "Okay." He said. "The car is over here - Easier to get to the airport that way." Carrying a dog on a bicycle, especially as sore as he was, just wasn't happening. Especially from all the way out at the airport.

Harry drove. On the way, he decided if it came down to it, he'd kill Justin. Again. Before it was anger, lashing out without really thinking. This time, it would be completely premeditated. He'd even try to leave magic out of it. But it was only a matter of time before one of them didn't come back from an excursion like this because of Justin. And it had to stop. "Dean's gonna have to totally give the pilot a good bonus this year. He's been stuck dog sitting all day."

Sam laughed. "And there are 4 of them." He said. "Two of them puppies." He said. "Yeah he deserves a good bonus... not to mention a night on the town."

"I say we give it to him." Harry said. "I also say we stay on the jet. It's easy to protect. And we can block Justin if we want. It's well appointed, you know your brother. Any other flight, he's drugged to the gills and all, so it's got beds and everything."

"Leave Justin to sleep in the hotel, and just put him off as long as possible." Sam said. "I like that plan. Right now I just want to sleep for a while, not deal with Justin's machinations."

"I second that." Harry said. "Well, the last part. I'll stay up with the dogs." Mouse was left at home. Roommates didn't travel well, pets did. Mouse was not a pet.

"Thanks." Sam said, and not because the dogs would need sitting. His would be curled up with him in the bed, he was sure. But because he liked the idea of someone awake and on guard at this point. For him it still wasn't entirely over. Some part of his mind was still trapped and afraid.

"It's going to take me all night to convince Max that Dean is fine." Harry said with a chuckle. Sam was right; he was using the dogs as an excuse. He was really staying up on watch and guard. He pulled up to the airport and around to the private hangar. "Come on, let's get you tucked in."

"Please tell me someone packed a change of clothes for me. I have been in these for... well ... since the last time I was working in your lab."

"Dean packed a bag for you." Harry said. "And even put it on one of the beds." Dean would always be the one to think of things like that.

"Good. I need to clean up before going to sleep." It wouldn't be much more than a sponge bath and a change of clothes but that was going to be more than enough. By the time he was done it would be hard to keep his eyes open long enough to crawl between the sheets.

Harry led the way to the jet, nodding to the pilot. He tossed the pilot the keys to the car. "Go ahead and take the night off, we'll hold down the fort." He said as he got Sam inside. "Okay, there's your cubicle, with your bag. Bathroom off it."

"Thanks." Sam said over the din of three excited pugs, pausing to pay attention to each, and then scratching Mutt behind the ears before getting into the shower. His long form was a mass of bruises and lacerations in various stages of healing hidden beneath his clothes, and if felt good to use the entirety of hot water, soothing what he could of them. Before long he was in bed, wearing nothing but boxers, and cuddling his own puppy close as his eyes drifted closed.

Dean's private doctor arrived a few hours later and consulted with the surgical and medical team at the hospital. The first thing he did was run a series of tests to evaluate Dean's ability to breathe on his own. He was well acquainted with Dean extubating himself, so he took the tube out as soon as he could. Which also allowed him the leverage to bully John into an examination. By the time the sun was rising and shining into Dean's hospital room, he was extubated and blinking at the sun.

"Well, I see I did that just in time." The doctor said, stripping off his gloves. He'd just finished extubating Dean not a half hour before, and just finished patching John up.

Dean nodded and winced. Wow everything still hurt. "Water." He said hoarsely. Seemed even when professionally done, extubation still hurt like a mother.

John held a water glass with a straw over to Dean so he could sip at it. "Before you ask, Sam is fine, at least physically. He's understandably still on edge, but he is going to be fine. You just need to worry about getting well."

Dean nodded as he sipped at the water. "I want to see him. No machines on. I want to see him." Dean said. "And I want newspapers for the last week, local."

"Harry called a while ago and said he was sleeping finally. He'll come in when he is awake. I'll send out for the papers. Not that you could read them. What are you looking for?"

"I can read them." Dean said. "An obituary. I have someone I have to thank. Somehow. Funeral seems a good way."

John frowned. "Alright." He said. "I'll see about getting them brought in. For now you need to rest." He told his son. If he could keep the two of them from getting themselves killed it would be a miracle.

"I know." Dean said with a nod as he picked up the phone. Dad had talked to Harry, which meant Harry was still up. So he called Harry's cell phone.

Harry answered the phone surprised to find Dean on the other end. "Sam's fine." He said instantly with a faint laugh. Dean might be in pain or still mildly sedated but he was fine if he was calling to check up on family already.

"And how are you?" Dean asked. "Where's Justin?" Justin unattended and not under surveillance was too risky. "And my dogs? And are you sure Sam's fine? What kind of fine are we talking about here?"

"Justin is securing a hotel, we are on the plane with the dogs, who are all fine, although Max seems convinced we have done you in and hidden the body. I'm fine. Not a scratch on me. Sam is.... under the circumstances he's okay. There will be some trauma to deal with. But physically everything is superficial."

"That's Maxie." Dean said. "Okay, so when Sam gets up, bring him here. I swear I'll stay put until he gets here. Besides, this place is full of Chinese nurses. I'm exotic. I'll have them eating out of my hand within the hour."

"You need to rest so we can get you back home where you belong. But yeah, I'll bring him in. I'm on watch until then so don't worry."

"Will do." Dean said as he hung up. He lifted up his gown and saw the mess of gauze and tape, with drains sticking out. "Oh that's not going to be pretty."

"Scars fade, and the ones that don't will give you something to impress the girls." John said rolling his eyes. "Not going to be pretty." He shook his head. "You damn near died boy."

"Yeah, not pretty." Dean said as he pulled the gauze off to take a look, and saw all the staples and stitches. "Lots of scars." He said. "Dad, I'm fine. Really."

"No you're not." He said sharply. "Leave that alone, you're gonna get it infected and wind up in a world of hurt." Dean had scared him this time. He was sure he had lost his son. He didn't want to go through that again if he could avoid it.

"I'm in pain." Dean said honestly. "You don't see me trying to get out of bed, do you? I hurt. I'm hungry. I'm feeling really tired, but can't sleep. I woke up during surgery. More than that, I saw you all when I was down. I'm here now, and for all of that, I'm fine. Take a breath, Dad." He said as he replaced the gauze.

John found himself doing just that, in preparation to yell at his son, but then he realized that the kid wasn't getting up, he actually was staying put this time, and thought better of it. "Alright." He looked to the doctor. "What can we do about the pain and the rest of it?"

"Dad." Dean said. "It's not unbearable. I'm still a little doped from surgery. Really, I'm good. I won't say fine, but I will say good. Sam's all right. You and Harry are fine. Maxie is ruling the roost. I'm good. So breathe. Come on, we can practice. In....out...."

John chuckled. "I remember how to breathe. But trust me... you don't want to wait for it to be unbearable before they do something about it. "

"I know, Dad. I know. Now when can I get out of bed? Don't give me that look, I was thinking about the bathroom issue." Dean said, looking at the doctor. "Could probably use an answer within the next ten minutes come to think of it."

"I think we'll be getting you a urinal for just now." The doctor said. "Your blood pressure was a little low and I don't want you passing out in there and busting something open again."

"That would not be good." Dean said with a nod. "So I'll lay back. Flirt. Watch some TV. Talk to the office. Read the newspapers people are going to bring in. I'll be good. Promise."

"I'll send someone in with something for you, and something for the pain. I'll tell them not to give you anything too strong." He knew Dean's preferences.

"Thanks, Doc." Dean said. "Hey, take in Beijing while you're here, charge it to the expense account, whatever you want."

"I just might take you up on that, since I am in the dog house with the wife for taking off with no notice." He said with a grin.

"Buy her something pretty, shiny and expensive from the both of us." Dean said with a laugh. "Girls like that. I'll be here in the morning, unless I'm able to transfer back to the States. Promise." He hated hospitals. But he wasn't going to fight about it. He needed to be here, he always knew when he needed to be in a hospital, he just always fought against it.

John looked at his son worriedly as the doctor left the room. Dean was being too compliant. He was really bad off if he was willing to stay put. "We need to make sure things like this don't happen again." He said hoping to distract himself from those thoughts.

"It won't." Dean said. "We took out half or more of the council." He pointed out. "We've got the remaining sepulchers. This battle is over. It might be the start of a war, but the battle at least is over and we won. That's a good thing, Dad."

"We almost won the battle and lost the war, son. I can't help feeling manipulated to this point. Justin is dangerous, Dean. I don't think it's just personal history talking here."

"He is. He's also far too single-minded." Dean said. "But only Sam knows where the last sepulcher is, and he'll never tell Justin. I don't want him to tell anyone, actually. He got what he wanted, a dismantling of the council. There's nothing else he needs to be involved in. Sam and Harry should set up a meeting with Merlin, see if they can block Justin's further rise."

"Can we be sure this Merlin character can be trusted? It wouldn't exactly be the first time someone has claimed to not know what people were doing under his orders."

"It's like the presidency, Dad. The president doesn't know what his undersecretaries are doing every minute of the day. He wasn't there, if he were involved, he would have been there. Therefore, it was an attempted coup on him as well. He's better as an ally than an adversary." Dean said as a nurse came in to take down his blood bag. He smiled and chatted with her a bit in Mandarin, making her blush as she left the room.

"When did you learn Chinese?" He asked, letting his opinions about the rest of it drop. There was still the matter of who was behind this whole engagement fiasco that happened before and the child that may or may not still be alive.

"While I was half dead." Dean said with a shrug. "I translocated. Met Yoda, and learned."

"Yoda... okay..." John said, wondering if he should tell the nurse not to give him more pain medication after all, it sounded like his son had enough drugs in him already.

"Yeah. Yoda. I don't know his name, hence the obituaries. He was outside the ICU in this hospital when I was trying to figure out how to get back into my body." Dean said. "Near death experience, Dad. Without the bright white light or the tunnel, thank God. I need to thank him, so I'm going to his funeral to pay respect. I'm not crazy, I'm not overly drugged. It happened. Case in point, now I speak Chinese."

"I don't think you're crazy." John said. "Okay, so if you don't know his name, how will you know what funeral to go to?" He asked.

"That's why I need the newspapers." Dean said. "Hopefully I'll luck out and there will be a picture. If not, I know he's a male between 60 and 80 years old and I'll pay off the hospital to tell me."

"Well the papers will be here soon." John said and looked up as the nurse came in with his pain medication and prophylactic dose of antibiotics.

Dean thanked the nurse. "Dad, you know what one big problem with the Winchester family is? We don't say what needs to be said. Or anything at all. Leads to a bad qi actually." Dean said. "I've spent years mired in guilt and self doubt, turning that inner rage outward and making some stupid decisions along the way. We can't live like this and survive."

"So talking is going to change that?" John asked, wondering if this near death experience had changed more than his son's language database. "Starting to wonder if I need to exorcise you." He teased. "You're staying put and talking about... feelings."

"I'm staying put because I'm well aware if I stand up, I'm going to pass out, and you'll just put me back in this bed again." Dean pointed out. "So I'm saving us a step. And I'm not talking about feelings, I'm talking about words. I was so angry at you for leaving us with those people. I was angry with Mom for dying. At the demon for killing her. At every adult who ever tried to tell me what to do and how to do it. I'm angry at Justin for his lies. I'm admitting I'm angry, and you know what? That makes me feel better. I can even feel my blood pressure unclenching. How much of my life would have been different if I hadn't been so damn angry all the time?"

"Most of it." John said with a sigh. "And that is on me, not you. I asked you to be a man when you were still a boy. A young boy. But I didn't see any other way... I came back for you... I'm sorry it was too late. I was too wrapped up in my own anger to teach you how to deal with your own."

"Dad, it's okay. I forgive you. You did your best with what you had. There's no manual for raising two boys after your wife is killed by a demon. I understand that now." Dean said. "And I do forgive you. Because it's the only way. I can't control you; I couldn't control you when I was ten. So that leaves us right here, right now. Where I'm fine and you've got issues, but I have to face it that they're your responsibility, not mine. I can't fix you, only you can do that. And I hope you figure out how to."

"Which is how it should be. You aren't responsible for the world. Question is can you embrace that view where your brother is concerned."

"One thing at a time." Dean said with a chuckle. "I'm working toward it. Right now I'm not there yet. But I'm working on it."

"Good, that means I don't have to break out the holy water and roman ritual." He said running a hand through his hair.

"Hey, give me credit. I'm trying. Did you know under the Chinese zodiac I'm a horse? It explains things so obscenely well. Just a tidbit there." Dean said. "Dad, I'm fine. I'm in good hands. Leave me a gun, some holy water and go make sure Harry and Sam are all right."

"Harry is fine and he is keeping an eye on Sam." John said settling into his chair. "I'm gonna stay right where I am."

"You sure? I mean, I'm well aware that I'm freaking you out." Dean said with a chuckle. "And it's going to be boring here. Just a lot of....waiting."

"I'm sure. And all it's going to be anywhere is a lot of waiting." John said. "Waiting while Sam sleeps, waiting while Harry paces... waiting while your dog tells me repeatedly to get off my ass and take her to you."

"Then why don't you go get my dog?" Dean suggested. "Poor old girl, she's probably frantic. I told her I'd be back in two hours. It's been way beyond that. And yes, she can tell time."

"Because most hospitals don't like animals running around. Especially in intensive care." John pointed out. "You and Max are just going to have to be patient a while longer."

"Dad, I have so much money, God asks me for a line of credit. Go get Maxie, I'll throw some cash around. Exchange rate is awesome." Dean said.

"Sometimes rules really are there for a reason." John said with a small laugh. "You will see her soon enough. Let's at least wait until you are out of intensive care before bribing the staff to let you have a dog in here."

"Fine, but you're dealing with her then." Dean said. "Believe me, you've never gone through anything like that before. She'll have you begging for mercy in fifteen minutes."

"We'll see. But you keep behaving, and you'll be in one of your high priced hospital rooms and all the pug you can handle."

"I'll get that whether I behave or not." Dean said with a laugh. "Really, I'm good though. You don't have to stay here and stare at me. I'm sure there are more important places to be."

"Other than sitting there watching Sam sleep, where would you suggest I be?" John asked, with one eye brow lifted.

"Well, sitting there watching Sam sleep." Dean said. "I'm on an invincibility trip right now. Come on, they knew we were coming for Sam, they counted on it. They were planning on ripping us apart and making Sam watch. They threw their best at me. I'm here, they're not. Fine, it was close. I get that. I'm still here though."

"And we don't know that we got all of them. Sam has Harry watching over him. You have me. It's how things are." John said. "But don't worry, I can leave the room if you really think I am keeping you from getting any action with a nurse." He teased.

"Oh don't worry. I think the drugs they're giving me inhibit any action with a nurse." Dean said with a laugh. "But you're right, we might not have gotten them all. Which means there might be a few still out there, waiting. Which is why the wagons need to be circled around Sam. It's him they'd be after."

"Are you saying you don't thing Harry is up to the job of looking after Sam?" John asked. "And you know you are the quickest route to make Sam compliant don't you?"

"I'm just saying Harry could use some back up." Dean said. "And yeah, I do know that. They won't think of that though, not directly. I'm the freak mortal brother, remember?"

"What does being non magical have to do with whether or not your brother loves you? Don't mistake them for being idiots just because they have chosen to pretend you don't exist on most occasions."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Dad, breathe. Remember, we talked about it before, this breathing thing. I never said Sam thought the way they did. I know he doesn't. But they think that way, therefore they will assume Sam does, or should, and discount my importance in his life altogether. They've been doing it for years. It's laughable really, but it's reality. They think that way, and they're wrong, but they think that way."

"Don't count on them not having eyes in their head. They don't think you are important, but they know Sam does. And I am breathing. I have been breathing longer than you have been alive." He added with a grin, bringing dimples to his cheeks. "Sam will be fine. Merlin is in the area and I suspect that if he is as guiltless in this as you say, they won't go near Sam directly. Expecting that it would be ... well... expected."

"Ah, but do you know how to use that breath?" Dean asked with a grin as newspapers were delivered to his room. He carefully sat up and braced his stomach with a pillow as he flipped through the newspapers. "That's him." He said, pointing to a picture. "That's Yoda. Well, he's actually Deng Xiao Po, and he died yesterday here after suffering a stroke. Funeral starts tomorrow. No comment, I'm going."

"So much for staying put and behaving." John said. "You are taking your doctor with you." That way if the boy passed out or ripped anything open there would be instant assistance.

Dean rolled his eyes. "I'm a work in progress." Dean said as he started calling hotels until he found the one Justin was staying at. "Yes, connect me to his room, please." He said.

The phone rang twice before Justin picked up. "Yes, Hello?" He said following it up. "Ni Hao."

"Your accent is totally off, dude." Dean said with a chuckle.

"Yes well, I am unrepentantly American. Glad to hear your voice. What's the prognosis?" He asked, relief evident in his voice.

"Same as it always is. I'm fine." Dean said. "Did you really expect anything different? How'd the talk with Merlin go?"

"It went well. He would like to talk to the three of you as soon as you are able to tolerate having visitors. "

"I bet he would." Dean said. "But I have plans tomorrow, so he's on hold for now. He can meditate on the fact that either he didn't know what his council was doing, or if he did know, we'll be coming for him too."

"Don't get too cocky, Dean. We were lucky this time, and even then we nearly lost you." Justin admonished. "Merlin will not tolerate much disrespect."

"I'm fine." Dean said automatically. "And I'm not a wizard. Therefore he gets as much respect as he earns with me. One would think that an attempted coup is the worst disrespect ever, and that he would be grateful to us for aborting it. One would think. Lack of gratefulness for putting ourselves in harm's way to prevent his being overtaken leads one to think he had a role, however subversive and hidden, in it all. One would think."

"Who said he wasn't grateful? I merely said he wanted to speak with you. As for respect, look at it this way, treat him with the same respect you would treat any loaded weapon. Handle him in the wrong way and things can get... messy. Not just for you. Samuel is a wizard, and he is one of the few remaining council members. He will be dealing with Merlin often. Don't make life difficult because you believe yourself above being polite."

"Treat him like a loaded weapon? If I think a loaded weapon is going to be dangerous, I unload it." Dean pointed out. "My brother and I have been disrespected by the council at every turn. And though I'm working on forgiveness, that does not mean that I forget."

"And the way to unload this particular weapon is be respectful. I'm not saying to literally kow tow to him, I am saying show some respect for his station. This isn't someone that you can blow off if they don't like what you say. Or more to the point Sam can't blow him off. Just... behave like a civilized human being when he visits. You'll find him quite amiable. We talked about this before. Social respect vs. Actual Respect. It's not that difficult."

"It's undeniably fake is what it is." Dean said. "As I've said before. But I'll be civil, and I can behave like a civilized human being when I have to. Don't worry. Though if he were to take anything out on Sam because of me, that would make him a lesser person, wouldn't it? And not so amiable."

"In the end ... does that matter? You are blaming him for things his friends have done, friends that he just found out have betrayed him I might add, so I think that might be a judgment of his worth we aren't ready to make. "

"You move against Sam, you move against me." Dean said. "That's the way it is. And I said the jury is still out on whether he was involved. We'll see, won't we?"

"And all I am saying is that maybe making things less unpleasant for Sam would be worth controlling yourself. I don't know that you will anger him, or what he will do if angered. I am saying be cautious, be respectful, and don't go out of your way to rub salt in open wounds."

"Open wounds? I have a ton of them." Dean pointed out. "But fine. Once I'm out of ICU, bring him by. I plan to get moved to a room with a nice view. See if they have a VIP suite or something."

"They usually do. And if they don't we'll arrange for a private nurse and your doctor here at the hotel until you are ready to travel."

"We'll arrange? Justin, I'm a grown man and no longer someone you can bend to your will. If there are arrangements to be made for me, I will make them for myself." Dean said calmly. "Things and people that you can't control you have to let go of. It's better for your qi."

"I'm not trying to control you Dean. I am trying to take care of you while you and Sam are recovering." Justin said with a long suffering sigh. Dean was talking nonsense.

"And I appreciate it." Dean said. "But it's not needed. But tell me, Justin, is this how you envisioned it all playing out? You do realize I crashed on the table three times, was translocated and barely didn't make it back into my body in time, right?"

"Of course it isn't." He said. "I never had any intention of either of you ever being harmed. Contrary to what you and Samuel seem to think, I did not raise you to be cannon fodder in my political wars."

"Maybe not Sam." Dean said, as calm as ever. "But all the training? Come on, was it really for anger management? Because if it was, you missed a whole other side to all the martial arts that would have helped more."

"I sent you to the best martial artists I could find because I was told that it would help you and give you a healthy outlet for your anger. You are not expendable Dean. I have never seen you that way. You and Sam are all I have left of my sister. Do you really thing I would squander that?"

"It's not fair pulling my mother into this." Dean said. "Because I can't fight back or even counter that. You know to me she's on a pedestal. So that was a bit of a cheap shot."

"No, it's the truth. You act as though no one but you and your father ever loved your mother. That just isn't true."

"My mother wanted us raised far from Chicago and all this magic business. If she didn't, we would have met you long before we did. But we didn't, did we?" Dean countered. "So you violated my mother's wishes when you took us from our father." There was no rancor or animosity in Dean's voice, surprisingly. "So using her in your arguments isn't a valid point."

"Sometimes what someone wants isn't what is best for them or in this case her children. We'll hash this out later. When you are healed, and Sam isn't as on edge. For now, know that I have never wished you harm, Dean. The three of you are my family."

"That's what scares me the most, Justin." Dean said with a sigh. "I'll call you when I'm out of ICU."

John had learned to stay out of the conversations his boys had with Justin. It just led to arguments between them all. Never the less he frowned over at his son. "That sounded ominous."

"Don't most conversations with Justin?" Dean said. "He's a master at hidden meanings and double talk. Sam and I are family, and the last pieces of Mom, therefore he doesn't want us hurt and everything is justified. Oh and Merlin of course wants to meet with me. Not sure I want to meet with him. I'm doing really good at this inner calmness thing so far you know."

"I noticed you didn't yell at him. Surprised actually. Maybe it's the drugs." John said. "Cause that man could move a saint to violence."

"What's the sense in yelling at him?" Dean asked. "If I yell at him, he's won. If I yell at him, that means he's got my number and knows how to get a reaction out of me. I chose not to yell at him, and instead talk rationally with him as he spoke irrationally. In the end, I won."

"We'll see how well that works for you in the future." John said. He had to agree it was probably the wiser option, but at the moment all he wanted to do was get very ... Irrational... all over Justin.

"I'm a work in progress, remember." Dean said. "I'll probably yell at him later. Hell, I might even hit him. Because I can't shake the feeling, and it's turning into fact, that this was Justin's plan the whole time. Do I believe he wanted me hurt? No. But I do believe he was willing to accept the possibility that I might be."

"I have to agree with you there, son." John said with a sigh. "I have a feeling Harry does too. That's why he and Sam are on the plane not checked into the hotel with Justin."

"The one thing he didn't factor in was your reappearance in our lives. That makes you dangerous to him, Dad." Dean said. "I'm serious, no posturing right now. He's a powerful wizard. He did raise himself from the dead, if you forgot. And in his world, you are expendable."

"I can take care of myself. If he thought I was easy to do in he would have killed me and taken you in, instead of the whole kidnapping scenario." John said. "He even showed up one day to gloat about what a terrible father I was and how it was my fault you two were lost."

"He was trying to goad you." Dean said. "Probably so you'd go off on a hunt in anger and get yourself killed. I think he left you alive because he hates you more than he did Harry's father. Harry's father from what I understand was fairly benign. You, like all Winchesters up to and including my generation, are a trouble maker."

"Wasn't always a trouble maker. I used to be the good kid in town." He said with a grin. Mostly. He had been a good looking teenaged boy with hormones and too much energy. He had his fair share of trouble as a kid, but after the war, after meeting Mary, the last thing on his mind was trouble. It was wrapped up in her and their life together.

"Really? What kind of town was that?" Dean teased. "I was never the good kid. That's all Sammy."

"You were never really a bad kid either, Dean. Just mouthy." John pointed out. "You just never seemed to be able to respect anyone that couldn't take down a shape shifter with his bare hands."

"It's my standing criteria for manhood." Dean said with a laugh. "Everyone has to have standards."

"That's a mighty small number of men out there in the world." He said smiling at his son. "Mine usually involves firearms."

Dean laughed again. "Then in your estimation, I was a man by the time I was ten." He said with a grin. "How do I top that?"

"Not just knowing how, otherwise all law enforcement would have to be considered men. But at 10 you were at least as good as any of them. By 16 you were better."

"And by eighteen I was the best." Dean said with a grin. "It's really just like one big puzzle. Then a first person shooter game, which I always loved. But the key is knowing when to draw and when not to."

"Exactly. "Never draw if you don't intend to fire, had been one of the first lessons John had taught his son. Followed by many others that had been honed by others along the way. John should have been born a hundred years sooner, Dean he figured was a much more modern man, but there was still some of the old west drifter in the boy. Still the hunter lurking under the business man veneer he wore to the office. Fortunately Justin hadn't managed to turn any of them into sharks. Which was what John saw when he looked at the wizard.

"So how are things with you and Connie?" Dean asked. "Sam and I have been guessing, and Harry's no help."

"We're good. Taking it slow. Letting her daughter get to know me. I think it puts Connie off a little... how I raised you boys when you were with me. She doesn't want her daughter involved in the family business and all that. So... it's... going."

"You met Anna?" Dean said. "Wow. I've never met Anna. I think Harry has a couple of times, but me and Sam haven't. She let you meet her daughter. Uh oh, once Harry finds out you're so going to get it."

"I pick her up for our dates. A gentleman always picks the lady up. Of course I met Anna. She's a cute kid. Got her mother's spunk." He chuckled "means she is going to be hell on wheels when she hits 16."

"We should call her. I mean, we all just kinda took off." Dean said. "I bet you two had plans too."

"She knew Sam was missing. I called and told her that much. I'll give her a call a little later. She's asleep right now." Given the time difference and all.

Dean glanced at the clock. "You're right. I forgot we were in a different time zone." He said. "Well, I'm running out of ways to entertain myself."

"Go to sleep." John told him. "If you plan to walk out of here tomorrow you are going to need all the rest you can get."

"You've got a point." Dean said and settled himself back in bed. He had to see Sammy, which wouldn't happen until Sam was awake. Go to a funeral, he needed rest for that. He was tired of fighting the drugs anyway.

Harry let Sam sleep as long as he wanted. He napped a bit himself, and left Bob messages on his machine. An old fashioned kind that even used cassettes, the big kind. Bob might not be able to answer the phone, but Harry could give him updates in thirty second increments.

Sam's sleep was troubled. Nightmarish would be more accurate, but the exhaustion kept him asleep though all of them. It was the little pug licking his nose, emphatically that finally roused him "What? Oh right... you need out. Don't you? Hold on let me get my pants on." He said groggily and dressed as the puppy sat on the bed looking up at him as only pugs can. Then he barked at him. Or at least it was what passed for a bark. It was actually more of a quacking sound than anything else. "I'm hurrying. Give me a minute." He told the pup, eventually picking him up and walking out into the main cabin of the plane.

"Made some food when the dog is done." Harry said, looking up when Sam finally came out of the cabin. "And Dean's awake."

Sam smiled. "Okay. Good... Right... dog... have to take the dog out first." He said although he really just wanted to get into a car and race over to the hospital. The little dog didn't take long, and soon they were back inside the plane. "I'm really not hungry." He told Harry, as he gave the pup a treat for being a good boy.

"Until we get word that Dean's out of ICU, we're treading water here. Might as well eat something." Harry pointed out. "Because if there's any decent food in that hospital, guaranteed your brother's already eaten it all."

Sam sighed. "Yeah okay." He said and went to get a plate of dinner. He wasn't hungry. His stomach was still tied up in knots. It was all he could do to swallow when he did take bites. He continued to eat more out of determination not to let the bastards win more than anything else. He had to be able to fake his way through being alright, and that included eating.

"Don't bother, Sam." Harry said. "We all know you're not all right. You gotta be able to be honest with someone."

Sam looked at his cousin. "I have to be all right." He said. "There really isn't much choice, you know." He pushed aside the food. "I will be... just gotta fake it till I make it. Otherwise I will go mad."

"You don't have to be all right. We don't expect you to be all right. I mean, how often do you let Dean get away with this bullshit?" Harry pointed out.

"I don't. But if I'm not all right, he is going to blame himself for not getting there soon enough. Or some other crap that he couldn't have stopped even if he had been there."

"He knows you're not all right." Harry said. "Your brother is not an idiot. He doesn't think they held you there and played Yatzee nice and peacefully."

"I know." Sam said. "But that won't change the reactions. If I can fake it... then he doesn't have to deal with it. And he doesn't need to deal with it after nearly dying because of it."

"He's going to try and deal with it anyway." Harry said and shook his head. He was talking to a brick wall. "Hopefully we'll get him somewhere we can sneak Maxie in. She's going crazy."

"Yeah I know. Poor old girl." Sam said. "It's gonna just about kill Dean when she goes."

"Yeah, I know." Harry said. "I don't think Ronan will be much comfort then. But lately it's been more likely Maxie would lose Dean."

"I know. I swear I am going to put him in a padded room one of these days, just to get through a year without almost losing him."

"And I'll help you build the room." Harry said. "Extra padded. With a slot in the door big enough for double cheeseburgers only."

"Sounds like a plan." Sam said with a laugh. "Cause, yeah, that will happen. Dean would find a way to lock me inside instead."

"I'll shove him in right after you." Harry said, drinking coffee. "I'm good with both of you in a bubble room. I really am."

"Makes it hard for me to help you with your investigations that way."

"That may be." Harry said. "But imagine how well rested we'd all be."

"Imagine how much trouble Justin could get into without all three of us there to ride herd."

"Okay. Good point there." Harry said. "I'm sure Dean's called him by now. Hope that went well, the last thing Dean needs is a showdown with Justin."

"If it turned into a show down, Dean would have called us to stop Dad." Sam said knowing his father well enough to know he would have taken it upon himself to give Justin an attitude adjustment.

"Justin won't go into the hospital anymore than we would. And John won't leave Dean until someone else can be in there." Harry pointed out. "So it could have been a verbal showdown."

"Even half dead, Dean would win." Sam said. "And who knows, it might be enough to get him to move out."

"That's because your brother has the nasty habit of having an answer for everything." Harry said with a laugh. "And it's particularly obnoxious when he turns that gift on me."

"It's not something I enjoy either. I'm just better at arguing with him. It's a brother thing. We can argue for days only to find out we were actually trying to make the exact same point all along." He chuckled. "Usually when Dad points it out just to get us to shut up."

"Yeah, I heard you two going at it when you were growing up." Harry said. Though he was convinced Dean purposefully goaded Sam into arguments because Sam was so silent at first. It was a way of making Sam talk. Even if it was yelling.

"Yeah, we weren't exactly quiet. But hey, at least we were normal in that regard." He pointed out. Although it was funny, Sam had been so jealous of Dean because he wasn't a wizard, and that lead to a lot of the arguments. Because in many ways, Sam really had been a spoiled child, and he had wanted desperately to play the video games with his brother and couldn't.

"It's probably the only regard in which you were normal. You arrived and were three feet tall, overnight you were seven feet tall." Harry said with a laugh.

"What night was that? Especially since I am only 6'5 now." He said. "And I remember being the short one in my class until my sophomore year, when I caught up with Dean finally."

"By then Dean had stopped growing." Harry said. Which was normal, Dean was going on twenty at the time. "You're still shorter than me. And I think you ran out of growth spurts." Okay, fine, Sam was shorter than Harry by an inch. Maybe an inch and a half on a good day. Half an inch on a Sam Winchester Bad Hair day.

"That's okay. I think I can live with not being the tallest guy in the family." He said, most people couldn't tell there was much if any difference in their height. Of course most people who came across them during office hours were certain they were 9 ft tall. It's amazing how much height a wand could add to a guy.

"Well, good. You have to live. One cousin on death's door is enough for this week." Harry said.

"Yeah well... not only do I have to live, I have to cope, which means I want to get back to work as soon as I can trust Dean out of my sight."

Harry had to chuckle at that. "Yeah, when's that going to be?" Harry asked. "Neither of you have ever trusted the other to be okay out of each other's sight. Ever." He pointed out. "You two are codependent to a worrisome level sometimes you know that?"

Sam scowled. "We only had each other for a long time." He said in defense. "Even the first couple of years when we were with you guys...it felt like we were alone." He sighed. "If that makes us depend on each other, and look out for each other more than most brothers, so be it. There isn't anything to worry about. We're just... close."

"Yeah. Okay." Harry said. "I'm going to take Max out." He said as his phone rang. "Hello? Oh hey, hold on. Someone wants to speak to you even more than I do." He said and held the phone out to Sam. "It's Dean." And waited to see how quickly this non co dependent brother would take the phone, when on the line was the brother he definitely was NOT co dependent on.

Sam took the phone quickly. "Dean? You're awake? Are you alright?" He asked, wishing they could get him out of the hospital so that he could see for himself and make sure. But Sam wasn't selfish enough to endanger other patients just to see his brother. Not this time anyway.

"I'm good." Dean said. "We're headed out in an hour or so. Securing a nurse for the doc, because Dad won't let that go. I don't know, what do you think? Jet or hotel? Either's fine with me." His voice was calm and smooth as he spoke to his brother. "You okay? Don't lie to me Sam."

"I'm fine. I was hurt worse the last time we went hunting together. I would say jet. Justin is at the hotel and well... I don't want to deal with him right now. Probably better I don't for a while."

"Okay. Jet it is then." Dean said. "But we'll have to deal with him eventually. Hey, I got an errand to run. Want to come with? Dad's a hovering babysitter." He said, rolling his eyes at John who was, well, hovering.

"An errand? Dean you just had major surgery. I mean seriously major surgery, we nearly lost you major. Are you sure it's a good idea to go out running errands?"

"It's one errand. And that's why I'm taking someone with me." Dean pointed out calmly. "You in or do I have to settle for Dad?"

"I'm in." Sam said. "Harry seems to think I'm made of glass too." He empathized. Although it was more on an emotional level than a physical one.

"Well, you are." Dean said. "But we'll be made of glass together. Double paned windows are always stronger, right? Tell Harry that."

"He would just say we are being co dependant." Sam countered. "So where are we going?"

"Funeral of an old friend." Dean said. "So wear a white shirt and black pants. No red and definitely no pink. Think you can do that?" Dean teased, looking up what he needed to know etiquette wise.

"Yeah I can do that. Will have to buy something but that's not a problem. You only packed casual clothes for me."

"I'll have it sent for. I needed something too." Dean said. "Had a person from the Hong Kong branch rush up, he's taking care of all that stuff. Clothes, you know. Didn't expect a funeral after all."

"Yeah. I didn't know you knew anyone here." He said. "When did they die?"

"Yesterday. I'll tell you all about when I get to the jet, promise. But it's a long story." Dean said with a chuckle. "But hey, I learned Chinese!"

"Why do I get the feeling it's going to be one hell of a story? But you do know if you walk into this plane you are going to be covered in pug hair in about 3 seconds flat, and she isn't going to want to let you leave without her."

"Crap. She can't come." Dean said. "Okay, you're right. I'll call when I'm a block away, you meet me on the corner, hop in, Dad hops out and I'll let Maxie be mad at me later. Promise."

"Good plan." Sam said with a laugh. "Just don't keel over on me okay? Don't need another mad dash to the emergency room."

"Yeah, that would suck." Dean said with a laugh. "Okay, got my discharge papers, I'll call you when I get to the corner." He said, hanging up and making another quick call to get clothes and comfortable shoes for Sam as well. He looked at his father. "It'll be fine. It's just a funeral."

"Yeah, and Sam was just doing research." His mother had just been checking on the baby, every horrifying story always started with 'it was just' or 'I was just'.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Completely different. I'm not involving myself in anything. I'm for once not looking for trouble. I'm going to pay tribute and give honor to someone that helped me be alive today. It's the right thing to do."

"Not arguing that point. Just that being a funeral doesn't make it safe." John pointed out. But then he was of the opinion that nowhere was safe.

"I've got you and the doc on speed dial." Dean said. "Anything starts going hinky in any way in either area; one of you will get a call. I promise. I'm just going to go thank an old friend, help him pass over, eat some food and come back. But hey, look on the bright side, Justin won't be there."

"Good. Sam is going with you too, which will help." They could keep an eye on each other. If one went south, the other would know. John had seen that look in men's eyes before. Usually those who had been tortured in Vietnam POW camps. It wasn't something that you snapped back from like a bad injury during a hunt. It messed with your head. That was the whole damned point. Neither of his sons was okay, but there was nothing he could do about it, but watch.

"It'll be bonding time." Dean said as he signed the forms for discharge, and took the clothes his stand in assistance had brought. "Okay, back in a minute. If I can't dress myself, I have no business going to a funeral, right? I'll be right out."

"If you can't dress yourself we are checking you back in." John told him, giving him a stern look. He didn't think this was a good idea at all, but there was no talking Dean out of it. He had been trying since he had first brought it up.

Dean laughed as he headed carefully to the bathroom. "You forgot your army, Dad." He said as he went into the bathroom. It took longer than usual, but he managed to change out of the hospital gown and into his clothes and even tie his own food. "All right, I'm ready." He said, coming out.

John looked his son over for signs of having over done it. Looking to see if he were pale, clammy or any other sign of weakness or pain. "Okay. Let's get out of here." He said finally. He still didn't like it.


	22. Chapter 22

Dean had picked Sam up at the corner as arranged, and John reluctantly got out. Then Dean quickly put his phone to silent and told Sam all about what had happened when he was on the operating table. His Yoda guide, what he had learned, and even waking up in the middle of surgery. "Okay, your turn." He said as he gave the driver of the car he hired directions.

"My turn? You want details?" He asked. "It was unpleasant, I wish I had killed the bitch, but it's over, I'm fine, nothing a few nights good sleep won't fix." When he was able to actually get those good nights sleep, was another matter entirely. "Harry drug me off to a spiritualist who gave me something to drink, and the recipe for it. He says my qi is out of whack."

"Mr Deng said your qi was damaged." Dean said with a nod. "But he said we could work on that, so that's hopeful. I was in that room, with you and Justin and Harry for a while."

"I thought I felt something... so that was you." Sam said shaking his head. "We almost screwed the pooch this time, Dean."

"But we made it out the other side." Dean pointed out. "So we just pick up the pieces and go from here. It's not like we have a choice."

"Yeah I know. It's what we always do. But Dean, we can't keep expecting to come out the other side. One of these days all that's going to be on the other side is a white light."

"For the record, there was no white light this time." Dean said. "But today is just a funeral. He really helped me, Sam. So I need to thank him, and this is how I'm going to do it. By standing there for all three days of rituals, processions and chants." And he waited for the backlash from that one. But they needed a subject change. To allow Sam to loiter on a subject like this was asking for trouble.

"Three days?" Sam said. "You didn't say anything about this taking three days. Ritual... chanting... do you even know what we are supposed to be chanting? I mean yeah... you need to thank the guy. Totally agree with you there, but Dean... three days?"

"Replacement phone." Dean said, handing it to Sam. "Along with phonetic spelling of all the chants that will be used, in order. The staff at the hospital was very helpful. Not often they get a blonde American who can speak their language after all. Three days. And if he gets a good send off, he gets first in line for a good rebirth. And I'm saying three days now. Dad will find the message on his phone, I arranged for a late send, so it won't be for a few hours. And I'll text him every few hours so he knows I'm okay. I got a pocketful of painkillers and really comfortable shoes. I'll be fine. Besides, I kinda want to learn first hand this stuff. It's...interesting to me."

"Okay." Sam said. If Dean really wanted and needed to do this, Sam would do it with him. Even if not one bit of it made sense. Even if he was convinced that Dean was doing too much too soon. "So you going zen buddhist now?"

"I don't know. I am so tired of being angry all the time, even if the person I'm most angry with is myself." Dean admitted. "And seeing myself as just another step on the reincarnation ladder is...it's actually comforting believe it or not."

"I can see how that would be. I'm not saying anything against it, just curious is all." Sam said. He supposed anything that took the edge off for Dean was worth it.

"We'll see how it goes. But you know one thing I found out in my studies so far, and it's just skimming the surface really, there were warrior Buddhist monks in Japan. Asian equivalent of the Templars. So it's not totally out of range for me to get into it." Dean said.

"No I guess not. Not everyone is a priest that can't harm a living creature." Sam said. "I mean... yeah. Okay." This was very surreal. A conversation he had never even imagined having with anyone he knew. Much less his brother.

"Well, civil disobedience isn't me. Can you imagine if I sat down in a haunted house and told them I wasn't moving until they stopped? Yeah, they'd totally go for that. Or a werewolf." Dean pointed out as the driver came to the home. "All right, here we go. Ready for some culture shock?"

"As ready as I am going to be." Sam said as he looked over the files on his smart phone. "Okay... where do we start ... never mind I will let you take the lead."

Dean led him through the first part of the wake funeral, the entrance, until he found himself face to face with the widow. She was an elderly, tiny lady and Dean bowed low to her and explained how he knew her husband. He and Sam were the sore thumbs here, especially Sam with his height. Luckily, the Chinese were a more spiritual people in general, and Dean was fairly certain he wouldn't come off as nuts.

She took his hands and gave him a sad, but warm smile. "That sounds like him. I am glad he could find a way to continue teaching. It was his greatest joy."

"Simu," Dean said, using the Chinese word for teacher-mother, meaning his teacher's wife, "I am a man of great means. Whatever your family needs, I will give. I cannot repay my sifu's gift." He was politely, but honestly, offering to pay for the entire 100 days of funeral and prayers. He'd run up some figures, it was a great tribute, and also very expensive.

"Your offer is most kind." She said not committing to accepting, although it would be an insult not to accept such a gift. However she did not wish to disgrace her husband's memory by putting a man to beggary. She didn't know his definition of great means.

"With your permission, we would like to attend the rites." Dean said. He wasn't family, or a member of the community, so permission had to be secured. 

"You are most welcome." She said. "But do you understand what all that entails?" She asked.

"I do." Dean said and bowed again, leading Sam off to the side. "Don't worry, Sam, we don't have to stay for all one hundred days."

"You're right. We don't. No way in hell you are up to a hundred day ritual. You aren't even up to an exorcism at the moment." Which seemed to be rather truncated when they performed it.

"I could do a down and dirty ritual in my sleep." Dean scoffed. But the hours wore on him. He was taking his pain killers without even being reminded by Sam. "Okay, I think we're on page 900 now." He said, and wasn't joking. He didn't even know what day it was anymore. He could look at his cell phone, but he knew he'd see all the missed calls from his father and Harry.

"Dean, are you okay? I mean really. You're looking a little pale." He said worriedly. He knew Dean felt he had to do this and if he didn't, he would regret it for a long time to come. So he didn't suggest leaving, but he was worried.

"I'm awesome." Dean said. He'd just been totally sliced open and rearranged recently. And like always left the hospital too soon. But his jaw was clenched and his shoulders squared, he was going to make it through this. "What day are we on?"

"Three." He said. "And that's all that we are going to stay for." He said firmly. He wasn't going to take any argument about it either. Dean might think he was super human, but he wasn't.

Dean nodded in agreement. "I'm with you dude." He said. He was nearly out of pills anyway. Painkillers and caffeine pills. He'd done that trick before, but not for this long. When it was finally over, he called for the car and slumped in the back seat. "Fine. I feel like shit, I'm seriously hurting, but you know what....there's peace too. These people just radiate it."

"Yeah... they do. Even though they are grieving. Which has got to be one of the least peaceful times there can be." Sam gave directions that they be taken back to the plane, as he called Dean's doctor to request more pain pills for him.

"This is why we rarely have trouble with Chinese deceased. This whole ritual was grieving, celebrating, and guiding the spirit to its rebirth. Giving it directions as it found its way home." Dean said. "I like that idea."

"Yeah... me too. Does this mean we are changing the if I die clause?" He asked referring to the salt and burn order. Hell he wished he had done that to Justin when he had died last time. A lot of crap could have been avoided. But at least something good came out of it. That is if Dean hadn't done himself harm by staying for the entire three days.

"Nope. He's being cremated tomorrow." Dean said. "So no changes there. The body is burned because it's not needed. The spirit has been reborn. Wonder what he came back as?"

Sam smiled. "I don't know... but I'm sure it's something he would have wanted." He said. The man had to be special in order to have affected Dean as dramatically as he had in a few short hours.

"He was hoping for simple." Dean said as the car pulled into the hangar. "How pissed are they going to be?"

"Very. They will all be lining up right after Max." Sam said and sighed. "And Dad will be the worst." Of course with his luck this would be the one time Justin and John had ever really agreed on anything.

Dean smirked. "Great. Situation Normal then." He said as he eased out of the car and made himself walk up the stairs into the plane. "Hi honey, I'm home!" He called out, and Max came running.

Everyone stayed back and watched as the little dog did an amazing amount of spinning and jumping for a girl of her advanced age. Of course the language coming out of the dog's mouth, sounded more like relieved scolding than anything else, at least once the literal squeals of high emotion passed on to allow more manageable yips and snorts and woofelling noises. All with intermittant licks and long sniffs to make sure it was him.

"I'm fine." Dean assured his dog as he sat down in one of the chairs and looked at everyone else on the plane. "What? I told you I was going to a funeral."

"You neglected to inform me that it was a three day funeral." John said sternly. "You could have hurt yourself, you realize that don't you? You checked out of the hospital too damned soon as usual and go off to a three day funeral? What were you thinking with?"

"Most likely not my brain." Dean said with a shrug. "But either way I'm here now, I need a nap. So does Sam. We've been up for three days at the most amazing ceremony you could ever have witnessed." Dean said, excitement over it brightening his fatigued eyes.

"Fine." John said, not arguing with that much at least. "But we are going back to the States. After your meeting tomorrow morning with Merlin." He added the last while rolling his eyes. "Pushy damned bastard."

"He has to meet here? We can't meet him back in the States?" Dean said as he texted his business manager to have a certified check sent to the widow to cover funeral costs. Plus extra. "I'd rather meet in the States where I can get a decent hamburger. But wow, Dad, you missed out on some awesome food. Tell 'im Sammy, wasn't that food awesome?"

"It was awesome." Sam said as he scooped up his own dog who had been dancing excitedly for his attention. "But not awesome enough to stay awake talking about it. Especially if Merlin is coming for a meeting."

"It was totally awesome enough to stay up talking about." Dean argued. "But fine, we'll take a nap. Won't we, Maxie? Are you tired? Did you wait up for me? Fine, we're going to sleep." Dean said, smart enough not to pick up either of his dogs as he whistled and followed them into his sleeping quarters.

John looked at Harry. "See? Weird. I told you he was weird since he woke up from surgery. Sam, has he been this weird the entire three days?" Three day funeral. Jesus Christ a three day funeral.

"Ahm... yeah... " Sam said with a shrug. "Dad... just deal okay... for now let's just deal. He's fine. He's actually... fine. I can adjust to weird if that's what it takes." He said heading for his bed.

John shook his head. Sam was just tired, he'd let the boy sleep. He looked at Harry and raised an eyebrow. He was used to Dean being full of piss and vinegar, ready and willing to take on the world one shotgun or punch at a time. This....this was not Dean.

For once Harry agreed with John, but this wasn't the time or place to talk about it. "Right now, I think we should throw him in his bed and let Max sort him out."

"He threw himself in bed." John said. "Normally he'd be meeting with Merlin and giving the wizard a piece of his mind."

"Right now Sam is the one giving everyone a piece of his mind." Which wasn't Sam. Not to Harry's way of thinking. "They have both been through a lot, let's just give them time to get back to normal. For them... which isn't going to happen until we get them home."

"I think in that case, Dean had a point. The meeting has to be postponed until they get their feet under them. Plead Dean's injury or something." John said.

"Honestly, being in a mellow state is probably for the best when dealing with Merlin." Harry said. "You and Dean seem to think that barking at someone is productive, when sometimes it just makes things worse."

"The problem being that Sam is the barker now and Dean thinks everything is 'awesome'." John said.

"We'll both be here, and if something goes wrong, we can handle it. Better to just get it over with. Sam is barking for obvious reasons. He will get some slack for the attitude issues. Dean... I don't know. Most wizards don't mingle with non magicals for a reason. Sam and I are the exceptions that make the rules, because of our mixed parentage. We see people as people. Wizards in general don't always see non magicals as their equals. It's like generals and privates. And no general anywhere is going to let a private mouth off, even if he is right."

"Fine. Get Merlin here in four hours. Hopefully Sam will be less surly and Dean will still think everything is rainbows." John said with a sigh. "But if Merlin threatens Dean...wizards are vulnerable to human attacks. We proved that already."

"No objections there." Harry said, although honestly if Ancient Mei hadn't been cowed by Sam suddenly, he figured things would have ended a little less victoriously, and Merlin put her to shame.

"I'll go get some real food." John said with a sigh. "Let's just get this over with so we can return to our lives." Something was up with Sam, and it concerned him more than what was up with Dean. Dean, he figured it was a head injury, it would pass. But something had changed in Sam.

"Sounds like a plan." Harry said. He didn't know what was going on with Sam, but he had a feeling it had to do with their grandfather. Which wasn't something he was going to talk to John about until he had a better idea what was going on. Hell he wasn't going to mention it to the boys either.

"I've got my cell phone on. Unlike Dean, I don't turn it off when I'm on an errand." John said as he headed out for food. It took a lot of trips to find 'decent American' food but he managed to hodge podge something together. "They still sleeping?" John asked when he came back.

"Yeah, they should be up soon, that smells like normal food." Harry said. "Something that might stick to the ribs for more than an hour."

"You noticed that about the food too?" John said as he started heating it up. As expected, Dean smelled it and came out, walking slowly and carefully.

"Oh good, food." Dean said as he took a hamburger. "So when's Merlin coming? We're not flying which means that we're waiting for him."

"He should be here shortly." Harry said, hearing the shower, which meant Sam was up as well. "Hope no one wants hot water for the rest of the trip."

"I can't shower anyway." Dean said as he sat down with the dressing supplies and took his shirt off, rebandaging all the surgical wounds and various spots. "So what are we looking at with Merlin? I am hoping for some regret for missing this whole attempted coup you know. At least an apology."

"We will see. I know there will at least be a thank you for what we have done. He will want to make sure Sam is alright. Beyond that I don't know. We have no idea what Justin has set in motion since he was the one dealing with him during the aftermath."

"Then we should get Justin here. To eliminate the chance of double dealing and double talk." Dean said as he taped himself back up. "It won't be a long meeting, I'm tired. I just happen to be more hungry than tired right now."

Harry was already calling Justin at the hotel. "It's time to come back to the plane." He said. "Merlin is on his way, and then we are headed home."

"I'm on my way." Justin said, coming onto the plane twenty minutes later and seeing the spread of food. "There was quite the room service at the hotel." He said.

"Good to know." Dean said as he ate a sandwich. "Sam! You done yet? Justin's here, Merlin will be here and there's food."

"Yeah, I'll be out in a minute." He called. Not really wanting to deal with any of this. He wasn't happy that they were including Dean in this. Not merely because it was wizard business, but because at the moment the only other wizard Sam trusted was Harry.

"I've got him." Dean said getting up again and knocking on the door before entering. "Don't say it, you're not all right." He said.

"Doesn't matter right now if I am or not." Sam said, considering not opening the door, but he did anyway. It was Dean. What else was he going to do?

"Yeah it does matter." Dean said. "It matters to me. And since I know I matter to you, this should matter to you too because it matters to me."

"Circular logic." Sam said. "And you never take that into account when it comes from me." He said as he pulled on a shirt, but not before Dean had a chance to see the healing wounds from his time at the council's mercy. "I'll get through it. You don't have to worry."

"Just like I don't have to breathe." Dean said. "Come on, pull the shirt up again, I already saw and you missed a few spots." He said, grabbing the antibiotic ointment. "It's okay not to be okay, you know that, right? I'm not sure I'm okay. I'm still figuring things out in my head and that's fine. I almost died yesterday, Sam. I very nearly did and that put a lot of things in perspective because I had to stand there and watch myself almost die and watch what it was doing to everyone around me. And that was really just the icing on the cake for you, after what they did while they had you. I'm here, Sam. I guess that's all I was trying to say."

"I know." Sam said, letting Dean take care of his injuries. "I'm not trying to shut you or anyone else out... well okay maybe Justin... but I need to sort this all out in my head before I can really deal with it, and right now, between you and me, my head is a mess."

"Sam, I don't remember much. I know we found you. But it's fuzzy. Actually pretty much everything after getting off the plane until I was translocated is fuzzy." Dean confessed. "I can't fill in any blanks for you, but maybe I can help untangle the mess."

"Not yet... okay... there are things I... I... we'll talk about it. I promise." He laughed softly, even a little sadly. "This is a role reversal thing you know. Usually it's me trying to get you to talk."

"And look how messed up I was for how long because I didn't." Dean said. "So I want to save you some grief is all. Well, you're all fixed up at least physically, so it's a start. But I'm warning you, if Merlin gets annoying, I'm suddenly going to double over in pain. Don't freak."

"If I don't freak, no one will buy it." Sam pointed out. "But I wouldn't worry about it too much. He isn't gonna show up and get pissy. If he were going to do that he wouldn't have let a little thing like ICU and a 3 day funeral stop him."

"Good point." Dean said. "Well, let's get this over with. They've got food out there,but I want a Big Mac so bad. And they don't make them right here. Think they'd be insulted if I just bought it, pushed myself into the kitchen and showed them how to make a proper grease filled piece of beef?"

"Yeah, I think they would. There are better places to get a good hamburger." Sam pointed out. "The bar Harry and I go to has killer burgers." And good tequila.

Dean laughed. "And that's back in the States. Where there's a proper McDonald's. But a bar run sounds like a plan to me. So we'll do that once we get back. I mean, we can sleep on the plane, be all nice and rested by the time we get there, and most of the time in bars we're sitting down so no one can say I'm not taking it easy." He opened the door. "Ready?"

"As ready as I will ever be. Let's do this." He said with a nod, his tone sounding as though he were gearing up to face the devil himself.

Dean shut the door. "If you don't want to do this or aren't up to it, we won't do it. Merlin can go screw himself for all I really care." Dean said firmly. "So we can put in a movie here and just hang out. It's not a problem."

"I can do this. I want to just get it over with and go home. I can't avoid everyone until this goes away, because... parts of it will never go away. It's just the way things are. But I can do this, so don't worry."

"Okay." Dean said. "But give the signal and I'll throw him off my jet. This jet is in no way connected to or funded by the wizard world, therefore he has to respect the rules of the mortal world when he willingly enters it." Dean said as he opened the door. "Merlin." Dean said with a nod as he came out and sat down slowly.

Sam followed out afterward and took his own seat. "Sir." He said acknowledging the ancient wizard.

"Good, I see that you are up and moving, even if somewhat gingerly. " Merlin stated although he looked at Sam a little longer. The boy was in distress, that much was obvious. Unfortunately it wasnt of a physical nature. It was the sort that was much harder to heal.

"Well, after your council got done with me, I had to be put back together like Humpty Dumpty. Thankfully with better results." Dean said.

"Dean!" Harry hissed at him.

"What? It's the truth. They took my spleen, a piece of my liver and had to repair my kidney. That was after they restarted my heart." Dean said. "And it was because the council took Sam and wouldn't give him back."

"It's alright, Harry." Merlin said. "You don't really believe that I am so fragile I can't hear the truth, do you?" He asked, then looked between Dean and Sam. "I am sorry you went through what you did. There is nothing that I can do to undo that. Even though it was not your intention to clean my house when you arrived, I do thank you for that." Even though it hurt to have been betrayed by so many.

"Well, maybe not your house intentionally, but the intention was to clean house until I got to my brother." Dean said. "And by the way, what's Magnus up to these day? You do know he hired a black witch to try and get pregnant with me for some breeding line thing, right?"

"Magnus has disappeared off of my radar, as it were. Of course this may have something to do with the council not bothering to actually look for him. It's hard to say at this point. Breeding line... your grandfather had such notions once upon a time. I ... dissuaded him."

Dean shot a look at Justin, then looked back at Merlin. As did Harry. "What do you mean he had ideas about that?" Dean asked. Harry glanced at Justin and tried hard not to look at Sam. At least in the presence of Merlin. "Him having ideas meant they were targeted at my mother, Harry's mother and Justin. What do you know?"

"That there were traits in the Morningway line that he wanted to accentuate by arranging marriages or liasons." He said. "The sole intent of course being the birth of children. I would not allow such experiments to go on no matter who it was he was targeting. We... argued." Merlin said. "He chose to no longer exist."

"No wonder Mary wanted to get as far away from him as we could get." John said with a shake of his head. "We'd received word that he'd died about a year after we were married. Honestly, it was a relief. I think she was afraid that her dad would find us and somehow drag her back."

"And he would have if he had found her." Merlin stated. "I am glad that he did not. She was a lovely girl. So sweet. I was sorry to learn of her passing."

"Obviously my grandfather did not work alone. Magnus got right on that band wagon. And he targeted me which makes it a little personal." Dean said. "How clean is your house now? Ancient Mei is gone, you don't know where Magnus is...."

"Magnus is not a part of my house any longer. I will have Morgan looking for him soon enough. The lot of you have left me rather bereft of Wardens and council members. I am afraid I am going to have to fill those posts again. Which brings me to you, Harry."

"Me?" Harry asked. He'd almost started to drift off, Dean had taken control of the meeting much like Dean would a board room. "No, I turned down my seat on the council. This definitely does not change my mind. I almost lost my only two cousins because of the choices and decisions of the previous council. I'm sure not everyone on there agreed with it, but they still did it. The defense didn't hold at Nuremburg, and it doesn't hold with me. I'm sorry, Merlin. With all due respect, I decline."

"I'm not offering for you to be on the council, my boy." He told him. "I am giving you the job of Warden." There was no request in his tone. "I need someone who does not intimidate easily, and will not follow orders blindly. Someone to report to me. That person is you."

"Me?" Harry asked again. And heard quite clearly the lack of request in the tone. It was a done deal. "Okay. But I'm argumentative, and I'll argue against almost every order because, well, I don't take orders."

"Dude, you'll be good at it." Dean said with a smirk. "Besides, you've got a secret weapon. Me. I'll train you right up."

Merlin chuckled softly, blue eyes twinkling. "I'm counting on it." He said. "Which then leads us to the next issue that needed to be discussed." Somehow no one in the room got the impression that Merlin had any intention of discussing anything. He was very kindly and gently telling them how the world was going to function. "I have decided to restructure the council. Which means for you, that there will only be one Morningway seat on the council."

Justin preened without realizing he was doing it.

"Or should I say, Winchester seat on the council. By rights that position belongs to Samuel. He has more than earned it."

Justin's jaw dropped. "All due respect, that seat is an ancestral Morningway seat. It has always been hereditary. I have no problem with Sam receiving a seat. But if there is only to be one, it should go to the previous generation, which is me."

"Or maybe Merlin and I are in accord without even realizing it." John said. "In that a long shadow of suspicion that your manipulation of events nearly killed both of my sons."

Merlin nodded gently to John. "As well as the fact that you have used the dark arts in the past. Not accidentally or without other recourse. Or for that matter with anything less than premeditated malice. I have no place for that on my council. As for it being an ancestral seat, you have no children of your own, therefore the Morningway line ends with you. It has divided into Winchester and Dresden at this time. As Harry has regrettably used the dark arts in the past as well, even though there were extenuating circumstances, which led to your death, and passed the right to a council seat onto your heir... the only qualified heir. Samuel."

"Sam had a seat on the previous council." John pointed out. "Because of that, he was more vulnerable, not less. I know I don't count in your world, but he is my son. And my opinion is that he nearly died. We nearly lost him. Because of the ambitions that come with being a ruling body."

"It's not about ambition." Merlin said. "It's about duty. That has been forgotten along the way. There must be a ruling body. You cannot have order in a community such as ours without it. We will just have to insure that corruption and the dark arts are kept far from the council. Even if that means culling the herd from time to time."

"Merlin, your council has been decimated." Justin pointed out. "Sam, as powerful as he has the potential to be, is still largely untrained and unseasoned. You will need my experience and my knowledge."

"No. He will need mine." Merlin said, his eyes no longer twinkling. They were cold and hard as they looked at Justin Morningway. "You have committed murder, kidnapping, and involved yourself in dark rites to bring yourself back from the dead. There is nothing that anyone on my council needs to learn from you other than what not to become. Consider yourself lucky that you are not encouraged to investigate reincarnation."

"Dude, totally served." Dean whispered to Sam. "Okay, can we skip the rest of this part?" Dean said to everyone else in the room. "Sam's a council member. Justin is not. Harry is a warden. What's left?" He didn't want to see his uncle beg to no avail for something he was locked out of. That would serve no one anything really, as much as his father would love to see it.

"Nothing truly. I do wish you a speedy recovery, Samuel and I can discuss things further when he has had a chance to heal. There will be time. Be aware that we do not know where this conspiracy has spread to, or even to what species it has spread. Be cautious until we are more sure of what we are dealing with."

"We're aware. Which is why I should remind you that I am not tied to your treaties. I'm neither vampire, fairy, or wizard. I am, however, a hunter." Dean said, leaning back in his seat. "And that I do think and act independently of my brother and cousin." So that if he did step on some sacred treaty, Merlin should know better than to hold either Sam or Harry responsible. He and John and the rest of the hunters in the world were in a unique position. Wizards and everything else operated in plain view but hidden from the rest of the world through tacit agreement and subterfuge. But hunters, they knew what really went on in the world and often took it upon themselves to make things right when political bodies such as the council were unable to or unwilling to.

"Yes, and while I will recognize the distinction, those of the other races may not." He pointed out. "Sam and Harry are bound by the treaties, and with reason, because the last thing the world needs is a war between the supernatural races of the world."

Dean shrugged. He didn't make war on races. He took care of problems. Things only popped up on his radar when someone was getting hurt after all. "Then I guess our business is concluded." Dean said. "We plan to leave for the States as soon as this meeting is over." It didn't escape him that Sam hadn't said anything.

"Yes I suppose it is." The aged wizard said rising to his feet. He too took note of Sam's silence. "We will speak later, Samuel. When you have had time to heal." He said the gentleness having returned to his voice and eyes.

"Yes, sir." Sam said with a nod.

"I'll see him out." Harry said, standing up. Before Justin could offer. "Justin's not going to go quietly." He said to Merlin as he walked him down the stairs.

"No, he will not. I trust you have not renewed your affection for your uncle." Merlin said quietly. "For it may end badly with him... again."

"He tried to kill me...again...so he could live." Harry said. "Dean and Sam though....it'll be touchy, but I'll handle it." Harry had no doubt it would end badly again.

Merlin nodded. "I trusted that you would." He said. "Be gentle with Samuel. There is something lurking there that we do not wish to awaken. Not even by mistake. He is a gentle soul, and could achieve greatness. But something lurks that could take him to the depths of darkness, Justin must not be allowed to influence him."

"Ancient Mei was terrified of Sam." Harry said. "Yes, Dean and John cut through the wardens and council members like weeds, but Ancient Mei was more terrified of Sam. What if they already woke that up?"

"Then we have to find a way to put it back to sleep. I don't want to lose him. He has great potential." He also didn't want to have to kill him. For that matter if Mei was afraid of him, he might not be able to do so once whatever it was completely awakened.

"Losing him is not an option. If I have to choose between the council and what you order me to do, and Sam and Dean, I think we know which side of the line I'll fall on." Harry said.

"Then we must make certain that choice never has to be made." He said as though it were just that simple. "I will speak with you later. Have a safe flight home."

"Thank you." Harry said as he signaled to the pilot to start the pre flight. "Okay, well, I think that went well." Harry said.

"Well, it went." Dean said. "And see, I was polite and everything."

"Maybe that means you should take pain killers more often." John observed dryly.

"Yes to all the above." Sam said as he got up to go back into what passed for his bedroom on the plane.

"You've got nearly half a day." Dean called after him. "Relax. You need anything, give a yell. I'm serious." He was worried about Sam. Everyone should be worried about Sam.

Everyone was worried about Sam. Even Justin as he sat seething at the recent turn of events.

"I will. Get some rest yourself." Sam called back to his brother as he lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. He knew something was wrong with him. Something deep seated and sinister. Nothing less would have so much as caused Ancient Mei to blink much less shrink in terror.

Dean grabbed a bottle of water and positioned himself right outside Sam's door. So much as a skipped breath and he'd hear it. John watched the arrangement, Dean had beaten him to it.

"You know, I like Merlin." John said finally. "Reminds me almost of my grandfather. Who you didn't want to cross either."

"It's the quiet friendly ones you have to watch out for." Harry said. "He's a force of nature, that one."

"I don't doubt it." John said, glancing at Justin. He had enjoyed seeing Justin kicked around, even if it was just verbally.

"I don't think he had involvement in any of this." Dean said. "Which means he's going to have this new council on a tight leash to prevent repeats."

"Yes he will." Harry said. "And he wants me to be the enforcer. It wasn't that long ago that they were trying to enforce their laws on me."

"Dude, right?" Dean said with a laugh. "We gotta get you training. After all, whatever training they had wardens doing before obviously was ineffective. I own you for a few weeks."

Harry laughed. "Now I will never get any work done." He shook his head. "I'll be spending all my time recovering."

"Dude you'll love it." Dean said. "Hey, Connie can help too. She's quite the fighter." He'd sparred with Connie before for fun. He'd recommend his father, but John and Harry might have called a truce but that was about it. "So...no council seat. What's that mean for you?" He asked his uncle. Hey, everyone was thinking it.

"It means we wait and see where things go from here. Ours isn't the only family that will be losing additional seats on the council. He is changing millennia of tradition. It won't go over well."

"I think one seat per family is adequate." Dean said. "Stops dynasties and hereditary power. Supports more co operation and the need to work together."

"That may well be but it doesn't mean that it will be supported. Merlin takes a great deal upon himself. The council was created to prevent one wizard from taking control, and that is precisely what he has done. He has taken control."

"Someone had to." Dean said and stood up. Carefully took his shirt off and gingerly removed the bandages. Revealing staples, stitches and a lot of bruised flesh. "This is what happens when it's out of control. I really don't want it repeated. I don't have many organs left to spare."

"I am not saying that this particular council was a good one, I am saying that his decisions will not be supported. And having one man in control may make things worse as time goes on."

"Sam's on the council. Harry's a warden. But it's you that doesn't support him. Because he called you out." John said.

"I didn't say I wouldn't support him. I said that that the change wouldn't be supported. You are putting words in my mouth, John. I don't like it."

"I don't care what you do or do not like." John said. "But I'm well aware you've been cut out. And so you'll be watched to make sure you don't do something stupid that could impact either of my sons. Don't think I've forgotten how we got here."

"This was not my doing. Unless you would rather have left the sepulcher where it was, with whomever wanted to summon the demons into our world. If you mean that by bringing that to your attention this is my fault, then by all means lay blame."

"I fully believe that when we found the sepulcher, when I found the colt, you tipped off Red Court insurgents. Thinking they'd kill me, and Dean and Sam would escape fine. Then you could play the comforting uncle to Sam and Dean, get the sepulcher while you still had your council seat and use it all for your own advantage." John said. "But Dean got hurt and captured. Sam won't tell anyone where the sepulcher is. All your carefully formed plans hinged on that one event and it spun out of control. That, I think, is your fault. For setting this all into motion."

"And you see evil at every turn." Justin pointed out. "You would wipe out anything other than so called normal humans if you could. Sam, of course makes that difficult for you."

"Sam does not make that difficult for me. Neither does Harry." John said. "And I will wipe out anything that threatens my family in any way."

"Dude, do we have popcorn?" Dean asked Harry as he rebandaged himself.

Harry wasn't nearly as relaxed about it as Dean was. He knew how bad Justin could get. And if John suddenly had a heart attack, he would know why. "I think I'm gonna go check on Sam." He said getting up, not wanting to hear any more bickering.

"Of course you will. And of course you decide where that threat is coming from and when to take action. You are a loose cannon bashing into the walls of the ship knocking down anyone and anything that gets in your path."

"Sam's fine. Breathing deep, tossing and turning, he's asleep. Which is good. I don't want him to hear this, so it's best that they get this out now." Dean said with a shrug. "Kid's exhausted. I'm gonna let him toss for another hour, give his body some rest before I wake him up."

"Then stay out of my path, Justin." John said with a growl. "Unless I'm a heart attack waiting to happen."

"If I had ever wanted you dead, John Winchester, you would be already." Justin said simply.

Harry glared at Justin. "You know you aren't making friends saying things like that." Considering he had obviously wanted his father dead.

Dean sighed. "No, you didn't want Dad dead. You wanted him destroyed. And you're obviously disappointed that Winchesters are made of stronger stuff." He said.

"I think my sister's death took care of that without any help from me." Justin said quietly. "Leaving you two alone in hotel rooms to chase monsters, drinking himself to sleep, fighting everyone that ever tried to help him. I didn't have to do a thing."

"He did the best he could." Dean said. "Your solution was to take us from him forcibly. I forgave my father for any mistakes he made when we were young. He's human, mistakes happen. Bad judgements happen. Miscalculations happen. And I forgive you for robbing me of my father for over fifteen years, telling me he was dead after he abandoned us, when it was all a scheme of your making and he really wasn't dead at all. I don't expect Dad to ever forgive you. I don't expect Harry to forgive you for killing his father as part of your master plan. But I will not forgive any machinations of yours that put my family in danger. I'm hoping you've moved beyond that and will maybe evolve into something that we can all like, but sometimes hope is all we have because it never comes to fruition. You two have had your fight. You both know where the other stands. You've been dealt a blow being cut out of Merlin's vision without ever fully realizing yours. I know you planned to overthrow the council, and maybe it was because of the sepulchers and their plans for them. But I also know that when the smoke cleared you planned to be at the head of it all, and it didn't quite turn out that way. I may have gotten a few too many head injuries in life, and many a teacher has washed his hands of me, but do not consider me an idiot or someone who is not perceptive to events and situations surrounding him. Now, if you'll all excuse me, I'm going to go lay down. I'm tired."

John didn't say anything further. There was no point. Silence was the best way to handle some situations. John was good at silence, just as his sons had each been at different stages of their development.

Justin however sat in a very loud sort of silence. No words, no disgruntled noises, yet never the less there was a loud angry cloud that hung over him.

"Well, at least they're both resting." Harry said. "That's a start to getting on the right track." Dean's room was on the other side of Sam's, so where Harry was sitting, he could listen for both of them. "But I think in the last few days they've both been through something traumatic. We should do our best not to rock their boats anymore than we have to."

"Agreed." John said. "They've both changed. Not sure if it's for the better or not. Guess we'll have to wait and see. But if we push the wrong buttons or make things hard for them, either one of them could crack."

"And that's what we need to avoid." Harry said, thinking of Merlin's warning. He'd keep that to himself for now. "But while they're both down...John, tell us how Mary died. If her father was starting something, I don't know, maybe it followed her."

John's face hardened, yet at the same time the sorrow still showed. He explained how Mary had gone up stairs to check on Sam, how she had cried out and he had run up after her. "There was only Sam that I could see, and then the blood dripped down onto him... it was her blood." He swallowed hard pausing before describing her pinned to the ceiling, in a silent scream, then bursting into flames. "I sent Dean out of the house with Sam and tried to get to her but I couldn't."

"Because the nursery was engulfed in flames." Harry finished. It matched up well with Dean's version of it, what he had seen when he was four years old. "And my grandfather died, but before he committed suicide, reportedly, set his lab on fire. The same grandfather that was planning on messing with bloodlines and such. Justin? Any comment? You were there, or at least in Chicago when it happened." Harry was a year old at most. Sam and Dean weren't born yet.

Justin frowned. "I was out of town, but there is a possibility that it was the demon. Although why it would kill Father and Mary I don't know."

"Do we know what kind of demon we're even dealing with?" Harry asked. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of types of demons, one more nastier than the last.

"Not without my father's notes. We can go over what few I still have when we get back to the States."

"John? Any hits from your end?" Harry asked. He knew John would be more forthcoming, given that it was his sons on the line. Justin, he had doubts about.

"The demon is one that possesses people, has no physical form of its own." He said. "It manifests with yellow eyes, not the usual black eyes you see with possession. Which means it may be a fallen."

"Oh." Harry said. "Well, that's...that's great. Which meant if it's all connected, my grandfather was trying to contain a tempest in a tea pot."

"Pretty much. Wouldn't be the first to try it. Usually it's witches who forget that the demon actually holds the strings in those situations. But there are some hermetic workings that can hold them for a time. But all they have to do to leave is leave the host and go willingly back to hell... they climb out again fairly quickly though."

"Well, we've got our work cut out for us then." Harry said. "Jessica was killed the same was as Mary. It has to be related."

John nodded. "Regardless of why, there is a demon with an interest in Sam. I've been hunting him since Mary died. But they are slippery bastards. He has some tells but usually it means I am on his heels not able to get ahead of him."

"We'll work on that." Harry said. "Sam's been through enough without having to try and outrun a demon. A possible fallen on top of that."

"Maybe I've been chasing him the wrong way. If he is a fallen, he may still function in some ways like an angel. No clue what to do with one of those. Other than give it hell for making me do its job."

"We don't deal with angels too much in our realm, but I'll see what I can find." Harry said. This was his job. Listed as a wizard or not, he was a trained private investigator. And he had a vested interest in this. "Everything has a pattern, we just have to find it."

"The weather patterns change when he is in an area. Storms. Dramatic electrical storms." John stated. "A few other things I can show you in my journal later, but usually they are only obvious after the fact."

"We can start there, see what else we can find." Harry said. "Maybe this thing is stalking other kids as well. Or something else draws it at times. We'll see when we take a stab at your journal. And the papers from my grandfather."

John nodded. At least he and Harry were on the same page. He wasn't a bad sort. Not like he had much choice in who raised him any more than his sons did. So long as he didn't start telling him what a lousy father he had been, they might be able to get along. Or at least work together.

"All right." Harry said. "Then we'll just have a nice trip back to the States, let the boys rest, and go from there. Nothing else we can do until we're near all the research we need to be near."

"And we don't tell them a damned thing about it, until we actually have something concrete." John said looking at Justin pointedly. "Neither one of them can handle another shock right now." They needed to rest and find a way to move on in spite of the horror before anyone could really expect them to be able to handle the idea that there might be some sort of demonic taint in them.

"Of course." Justin said. "Why do you act as if I want to cause harm or distress to either boy? I've done nothing of the sort."

John raised an eyebrow at that. "Yeah, cause kidnapping and raising Dean to combat a building full of combat trained wizards is real friendly like and responsible. You would do anything, that would get you what you wanted."

"Because it was much better to have a ten year old watch his six year old brother alone in a hotel room." Justin responded. "And it was much better for that ten year old to have to patch his father up while the father guzzled tequila. With the six year old watching after all."

"The difference being I did what I had to do to keep my family together. You did what you wanted to do because you don't like being told no. Don't sit there and tell me you did it for the boys. You could have handled it legally easily enough. But you didn't just want them to be safe by your standards, you wanted to possess them completely, make them yours because Mary got away."

"Legally? And how would I have you served?" Justin asked calmly. "You were living as a grifter, and teaching your sons to live as grifters and con their way through life. That would have been beneficial for their future well being."

"You found me easily enough to set up the child care providers I could get as your accomplices in kidnapping. You could have served me there. You had to have known enough about who I talked to and where I went in order to put it all in motion. So get off your damned high horse."

"I know you hate to have your flaws aired out for public consumption." Justin said. "Especially considering the boys." Never John's boys, or your boys. In the presence of John Winchester, Justin referred to them as the boys. "Dean's very emotional statement of forgiveness notwithstanding."

"I don't know any one that cares for it." John said with a dry chuckle. "The difference is I made mistakes and expected too much. You committed murder and kidnapping to get what you wanted. I don't give a rats ass for anyone's good opinion, and I give considerably less for yours. Cold hard facts are that you might have given them a stationary home and a good education, but you lied to them their entire lives, and used them for your own ends. "

"You said that with a straight face, I am surprised. From what I've seen you've bent over backwards to make sure your sons have a good opinion of you." Justin said.

"I've wanted a relationship with my boys. But I am who and what I am. I haven't changed anything or held anything back to make them like me."

"Of course you haven't." Justin said, condescendingly.

John looked at him levelly, actual amusement in his eyes. Justin really thought he mattered in the grand scheme of things. Those boys loved their family, flaws included, but the fact of the matter was, the only one that was necessary to either boy... was his brother.

He took out his cell phone and called Connie. He had promised to let her know when they were on their way.

Connie picked up. "I take it you're on your way back?" She asked, knowing John Winchester pretty well now.

"Yeah, we're flying back now. How are things going back there?" He asked. He and Connie had a good relationship. At least he thought it was good. They understood each other, gave each other space, and didn't interfere with each other's lives beyond where it touched their own. The truth was they were both gun shy and Mary's ghost hung between them sometimes. Especially in November.

"Same as always. Definitely calmer than where you are, that I can guarantee. Both boys made it out?" Connie asked. She'd get the details from Harry, but she did like both Winchester boys.

"Yeah, Sam was... well he's okay physically, its still rocky for him emotionally." He told her, his concern clear in his tone "We nearly lost Dean. He died three times in surgery. So what does he do when he wakes up? He wants to go to someone else's funeral. Talking like he is going Zen."

"Well, at least he wasn't going to his own." Connie said. "And don't take this the wrong way. I know Dean and I like Dean. But those three times he died in surgery....how long was his brain deprived of oxygen?"

"Yeah I know. I've had the same thoughts." John said with a sigh. "We're just going to have to keep an eye on them and make sure this hasn't caused permanent damage."

"I'm just saying, Zen and Dean don't usually go in the same sentence." Connie said. "We'll watch them. But you were right in there with Dean I'm willing to bet. So how are you now that the adrenaline has worn off?"

He chuckled. "I hurt like hell, but it's nothing serious. The usual, concussion, busted ribs, bruises, gashes and contusions. I'm fine." He had been able to rest for a few days while the boys were off at the funeral. If you can call hovering around a phone and trying to get Dean to answer him resting.

"Oh, okay, the usual." Connie said with a laugh. The usual for John (or his sons for that matter) was not what everyone else in the world would call normal. "Then take the opportunity to get some rest on the plane. Even your sons will have difficulty getting in trouble. And Harry will watch that excuse of an uncle he has."

"Yeah, that's a real priority." He said in all seriousness. Justin was about as trustworthy as a fox in a hen house. "I am going to need a drink when I get home, care to join me?" He asked.

"By the time you get here it'll be around lunch. So if you get a sub or something to go with that drink, count me in." Connie said. "You were in China, what were the odds you've had a real meal?"

"Spent a few hours before leaving chasing down hamburgers that didn't include green onion, weird sauce or tofu." He told her. "Beyond that... I had a lot of rice with stuff on it."

"Not a big fan of tofu." Connie said. "We'll get something real for lunch. That is, if you survive the trip. As much as Justin is an asshole and deserves to die, he really needs to make it off the plane at least. Would hate to have lunch interrupted because you have to be arraigned."

"Don't worry on that point. I want to make sure it sticks before doing something like that." After all Harry had killed him once already, and the bastard couldn't manage to stay dead.

"Okay." Connie said. "I'll try not to worry." Though Morningway-Dresden-Winchester family dynamics were complicated on a good day.

"Some trouble just isn't worth getting into." He said, which was to say Justin wasn't worth the powder and lead to blow him away.

"And now that you've said that aloud, you know I'll remind you of that." Connie said. "And tell Dean when he gets up that it's cookie time again. Anna expects another large order, and his new Zen outlook is not an excuse not to." Her daughter was in Girl Scouts. Every year, Dean Winchester bought them by the case load. She would think he was just being polite and had the money to spare, but she'd seen him eat the cookies by the case in one sitting.

John laughed. "I'll let him know. Don't worry, Anna will get her large cookie order. He hasn't changed that much." And if he had, John would really start to worry. His oldest son could put away the food as though he were a teenager in a growth spurt.

"Good, her troop is quite accustomed to being the cookie winner every year. I have no idea what they're going to do when she ages out." Connie said with a laugh. "Between him and Sam," who had a sweet tooth when he wanted to, "and Harry," who was obligated because Connie was his best friend, "they always come out on top. So don't let her tell you a sob story about raising money."

"I won't, but I have a cookie problem. Thin mints are addictive and you only get the once a year, and she's my dealer."

"Well, the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem." Connie said with a laugh. "You don't get to go to the second step until she's aged out though. Addiction is very important to funding the summer camps."

"Summer camps. Not to be confused with anything resembling camping." He said with a chuckle. "One of these days I'll see about taking you two camping how it ought to be done."

"I think I might pass. Dean and Sam made Harry go camping once. He spent three days curled in the fetal position after." She joked. Harry hadn't been that bad.

"I'll take it easy on you. We can even go someplace that we can get to with the truck." Not that there was a lot of terrain his truck couldn't make it over. "Tents, food... "

"Ooh, now you're trying to sweet talk me. You're really good at that." Connie said with a chuckle. "Throw something together once Dean gets his stitches out. He wants to go Zen, he should commune with nature. Sam sounds like he could use some quiet time. Anna should get out of the city."

"I like that plan. " He said. Getting the two families together on an outing. There was something so very normal about it. John missed normal. He never let himself think about it before, but having put down roots of a sort, he found himself craving things a little more often. Not just in bittersweet memories.

"Then it'll be a nice long good time." Connie said. "Camping should be low tech, which works for Sam, and both Dean and Anna need a vacation from their computers."

"You have vacation days available?" He asked because he could use several days out in the middle of no where.

"I'm a single mother. I always have vacation days available." Connie said. Because she never took them unless she had to, they piled up. "Just tell me when."

"I will. I'll give you a call when we land. Tell Anna hi for me."

"Will do." Connie said. "Have a safe flight."

John ended the call and put his phone away. "What?" He asked seeing Harry's expression.

"Oh... nothing." Harry answered in amusement.

"He must have been talking to Connie." Dean said, coming out rubbing his eyes. He rarely slept in long stretches, especially when flying. He hated flying. But with Sam the way he was, he wasn't chancing taking a sedative.

"Making plans to take her camping." Harry said. "But he is going to use a truck and tents. He thinks Connie is soft."

Dean snorted as he grabbed a soda. "Connie Murphy? Soft? Dude, she is going to own you by the end of that trip." Dean said with a laugh. "You're on notice, Dad."

"We're also taking Anna." He pointed out. "And she suggested that you and Sam come along as well."

"So it's like a....family outing?" Dean asked, sitting down before someone said something. "Wow. Okay, I'm in. I'm a sucker for s'mores. There will be s'mores, right?"

"I guess. Haven't had them since I was a kid myself. We can probably take some... meat to cook as well." That was hard for John to even contemplate. He was accustomed to hiking in with what you could carry and making do on what you could find.

"What? No MREs and a single canteen for a three day hike?" Dean asked. "Maybe Murphy's not the one that's soft."

"Maybe I would like to have fun this trip and not train. You know... young girl on the trip... not someone ready for a real bivouac."

Dean just nodded. "Hey, either way is good." Dean said. "You really must have worn her down, she wants me to spend a weekend with Anna. I'm a corrupting influence you know."

"It's cookie season again." John said as if that would explain it.

"Ah ha! I knew it." Dean said. "Everyone complains that I'm a manipulator," though the 'good' kind, not the Justin kind, "they should get a load of this kid. Harry, how many boxes of cookies did I buy last year because of the doe eyes? She has doe eyes, Dad. Wait until they're turned on you, there is no defense."

"Your cookie eating habits couldn't have had anything to do with it, huh? Wow. All because of doe eyes. Just hope you never have a daughter. You'll be doomed if doe eyes do it to you because they all have doe eyes when they want something." John teased.

"I like cookies." Dean said with a shrug. "But they're dangerous weapons. I'm warning you. Just wait. Then I'll laugh when a nine year old brings you to your knees."

"Are you kidding? That kid is going to be my thin mint dealer. Fortunately I don't have your income so she will only get a few boxes off of me."

"I swear I put that whole troop through camp every year." Dean said as he started to check his messages. "Sam still sleeping?" He was sure Sam would have woken up by now. The kid must really have been bone tired to sleep through the nightmares he was sure his brother was having.

"Yeah," John said. "Either that or he is avoiding people." He said, not that he blamed him. Hell it would be a better man than he that could go through what Sam had and not need some solitude. Especially since the real author of his pain was sitting in a chair sulking, where he couldn't be escaped.

Dean nodded. "I guess." He said. "You look tired, Dad. Go lay down. We've got a couple more hours of flying time."

"Yeah, that's probably not a bad idea." He said as he got up out of the chair. "I have a lunch date when we get back." He looked at Justin and Harry, hoping they kept their mouths shut about the demon business. "Good night, gentlemen." He said heading to find an empty bed.

"Night Dad." Dean said. "My doctor should be in the States now. He wants to see me ASAP." He said idly to Harry and Justin with a chuckle. "Meeting for the company later. Normal shit. So what else is going on that I might have missed?"

"Nothing really. Just the usual pissing competition." Harry said with a shrug. "All in all they were well behaved."

Dean gave Harry a doubtful look at that as he got up again to set out food for the dogs. "Well behaved. Huh. Did you drug them or is it getting downplayed right now?"

"No one threatened to kill anyone, no one offered to toss anyone from the plane to see if they could fly... no blood was shed and the volume was kept to a conversational level. For them that's well behaved."

"When you put it that way..." Dean said with a chuckle as he eased himself back down. "Dad's exhausted. Sam's...well, Sam is....he went through a lot. Justin's been shut out, you've been promoted....what a crazy couple of days."

"You nearly died several times over." Harry added. "It's a family activity I never want to repeat. And it's not so much a promotion as a new job. I don't know... I guess it'll grow on me."

"You went from wardens waiting anxiously to kill you to being a warden. That's a promotion." Dean said.

"Off probation at least. I guess it could be considered a promotion of sorts. Morgan isn't going to be happy about it that's for sure."

"Even better as far as I'm concerned." Dean said with a chuckle. "I wish I could see the look on his face."

"I don't think the two of you should come face to face for a couple years." Harry said. Morgan took his duties very serious, including training of the younger wardens. Dean and John took out a fair number of them.

"Not my fault his training was lacking." Dean said. "Don't even tell me to be polite, he's not here, I don't have to be."

"Wouldn't dream of it. I don't know that the training was lacking so much as we had more reasons to stay alive." Meaning of course to rescue Sam. "It's not easy for us right now... us being wizards. It's like Watergate for wizards."

"I can imagine." Dean said. "Actually, I can't. But I do sympathize. Two of the wizards that made it out of this Watergate are my brother and cousin. At least you two were able to walk away. And even made it out the other side in a better position."

"We did. But it's going to be culture shock for most wizards for a while. Culture shock, and some seriously lost innocence. The council was there to prevent things like this from happening not be the center of it. Millennia of tradition and belief out the window. It's going to be a mess for a while."

"Is it going to be a problem for me?" Dean asked bluntly.

"I don't know." Harry said honestly. "Ideally it shouldn't be 'cause you aren't the sort to go and rub it in whenever you see a wizard. But I can't guarantee that."

Dean would say more, but Justin was there. And if there was a wizard Dean would suspect of going off the reservation and causing trouble he may have to stop...Justin would be high on his list, if not number one. "Okay." He said with a nod. "Now tell me how they tortured my brother so I know what we're dealing with. This is your world, not mine. I don't know the dirty little secrets."

It was Justin who spoke. "There are ways to cause extreme levels of pain, maddening pain, without actually causing any physical harm what so ever." He told them. "In an environment completely controlled by even one high powered magus, time can be impossible to measure. An hour may seem like days, and I don't mean in that figurative sense I mean literally, and then suddenly time functions normally again, leaving the subject dazed, confused, there are of course the more mundane methods that were likely used, but they would have started there and it seems from Sam's injuries that they didn't linger on those." He continued on, describing the ways likely used to try and weaken Sam's resolve mentally, from simply withholding nutrition, to presenting him with unspeakable horrors that he could stop if he simply did as they asked. Making Sam the monster, responsible for any deeds they performed.

Dean was sickened. Disgusted. And glad everyone was already dead, or he would have ordered the plane turned around so he could rip their lungs out. After inflicting his own brand of painful torture. "Sam's not going to be all right for a while." He finally said quietly.

"No... he isn't." Justin said in a sad, gentle tone. "We will have to be gentle with him... and understanding. I expect there will be a great deal of anger in the beginning."

"I know." Dean said and shook his head. "We'll get him through this. There is no choice, he has to come through this, and I know it will take a long time. That means everything is on hold until then." Any schemes of Justin's....Justin would have to do himself. There would be no involving of his hurting brother.

"Of course. Although getting him involved in things will help get him through. Too much time to think on what happened is not going to help him any."

"I can keep my brother occupied." Dean said. It would help them both. "And he has a brand new council to organize and settle into."

"I'm sure you can. And yes, he does have many details to work over with Merlin and the new council. Not sure that will help his state of mind however. All things being equal, it might be too sharp a reminder."

"Or it might be a source of closure." Dean countered. "Where he can have a hand in policy and agenda to make sure this doesn't happen again."

"We will need to keep an eye on him. It might be closure, but it might also be the source of the proverbial straw."

"I always keep an eye on him." Dean said. "The fact that he was able to be kidnapped in the first place is a mistake I will not make again."

"Sam's abduction was hardly your fault." Justin said. "No one could have prevented it from happening. He isn't a child any longer. He has his own life, his own schedule to keep. No one can be with him constantly. Not even you."

"We'll see." Dean said. He knew he'd failed his brother once already. At least. He wouldn't allow a repeat of that. Some things with Dean would never change. His obsession with his brother's safety and well being was one of them.

"You need to let go of some things, Dean." Justin said. "Most especially this guilt complex. It doesn't serve either of you well."

Dean gave him a look. "The 'guilt complex' as you call it is mine. I own it. Not you, leave it alone."

"And that is the problem. You own it. Utterly and completely, you own guilt for things you have never done, would never do, yet you carry the weight of it as though you were the villain who had done the deed. there is no logic in it, Dean. No healthy outcome from it."

"What can I say? Logic and me have never gotten along." Dean said with a shrug. "Logic dictates that there's no magic. Logic dictates that ghosts don't hang around until they're insane and start being destructive. Logic dictates a lot of things I know are false."

Justin smiled indulgently. "That isn't logic. That's convention. Something people think they know when in fact they know absolutely nothing. Something the infamous THEY have always said, therefore it's so. Convention used to dictate that the world was flat and going to close to the edge would have you falling off. At the time they thought this was logical. Just as it was supposedly logical that the sun revolved around the earth not the other way around."

"So by your own words, logic is a flexible, transient concept that changes as people as a whole change and evolve, thereby making statements about logic as flexible and transient as the concept of logic itself." Dean said. "Therefore, any argument or statement that relies on the mythical logic concept is in itself wholly and entirely illogical and flimsy. Thanks for clearing that up."

Justin glared at his nephew. "I never should have allowed you to take that debate class." He said. "Especially since it taught you nothing except how to twist another's words." He shook his head. "The point is it's harmful to you, and doesn't change anything to carry around this guilt. You didn't harm Sam. You killed those that did. You have nothing to feel guilty about. Not even Merlin can control everything and everyone."

"Obviously, or we wouldn't be in this mess right now, would we?" Dean said. "The idea of control is an illusion anyway. I prefer vigilance. It's far more easily obtained and attained and much easier to accomplish than control."

Justin sighed. "No, what you prefer is to bash yourself around the head and shoulders because you couldn't stop something from happening. Which is a control issue not a vigilance issue."

"No, it's a vigilance issue. If it were a control issue, I'd be beating myself up over them attempting to do it in the first place. However, due to a lack of vigilance on my part, it did happen."

"So what are you going to do? Hover over your brother every waking minute? How do you propose to do that? "

"Easy. When he wakes up, I'm going to superglue and duct tape myself to him. That should hold until we land, where I pay the doctor an obscene amount of money to surgically attach me to his hip." Dean said. "It should work out fine, as long as he doesn't struggle too much."

"Yeah that should make your love life... nonexistent. Or at least we hope it would be nonexistent." Harry teased. "Unless you find a pair of Siamese twins with very different taste in men."

"Lots of women have kinks." Dean said. "Besides, give Sammy a book and he's a happy camper."

"That is just wrong on so many levels." Harry said with a laugh.

"And about as likely to happen as Dean trading the Impala in on a Japanese car with the engine that sounds like an irritated mosquito." Sam said coming out of the back with his hair skewed into interesting shapes from tossing and turning in his sleep. "Is there coffee made?"

"Fresh pot." Dean said with a laugh. "And I'd never trade in the old girl for anything. Just keep fixing her up."

"Yep, keep that in mind." Sam said. "Because there is no way I am going to be joined at the hip with you. I've seen the girls you take home, remember."

"They're not that bad. And they don't stay." Dean reminded him. "I usher them out before sunrise, so if you kept your eyes closed, you'd never know."

"Except that I would have to get out of bed with you to get them out the door... or the times you shower with them and I sure as hell wouldn't fit into the back seat with you and a girl, no matter how you went about it. It's not happening, get over it. And if there is nothing else to remind you, I am bigger than you, I would disrupt all the computers you try to work on, and it's really hard to watch your back from the side."

"Fine." Dean said with a roll of his eyes. "Guess I'll have to think of something else. Maybe bubble wrap. It's low tech and everything."

"Suffocation." Sam said pouring his coffee then taking a seat. His puppy jumped up on the chair and curled up into his lap, snoring before he had completely settled in.

"Padded room." Dean countered. "With meals checked by me delivered whenever you wanted. I'll even pipe in cable. Porn if you want."

"Flammable." He said. "I have been known to occasionally cast a nasty fireball in my sleep. Especially when in captivity... which even with cable, a padded cell... is still rather restrictive. And for the record... real women are much more satisfying that porn. "

"Okay, fine. I'll get my R&D guys going on building a sustainable settlement in Anarctica. We'll fly in hookers and Hollywood starlets." Dean said.

"Too cold." Sam said. "I like swimming too much, and I really don't like penguin."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Sustainable settlement. That means basically a biodome. Except cooler." Dean said. "We'd definitely have a pool. And a hot tub. I like hot tubs."

"Nah... receptions terrible for the TV, and then shipments come late, and we're out of beer and the delivery pizza isn't just cold. It's frozen."

"That's why they make microwaves." Dean said. "All right. I'll buy an island. I'm sure there's one for sale."

"Monsoon season would be a bitch." Sam said. "Then you have to sort out citizenship by what country the island is closest too. And once you do that some how it becomes a tourist trap and they don't let you shoot tourists, not even in tourist season."

"I'll declare it its own country. We could shoot whoever we wanted." Dean said with a shrug. "But we'd get great tans."

"Doesn't outweigh the monsoons. Besides, there isn't anywhere we could go that something couldn't find us. As Dad was always fond of pointing out... no where is truly safe. It's just life."

"We just haven't found it yet. Let me get off the hard drugs and then I'll start working up some plans." Dean said.

"I'm not running." Sam said. "Not because of this, or anything else. I start that and I may as well never stay anywhere. I'd be running from my own shadow for the rest of my life. I won't do that."

"Fine." Dean said. But his tone made it clear the discussion was far from over, he was just medicated. And verbally sparring with Justin had taken a lot out of him earlier, and he didn't have much in the reserves to spare, not this time.

"Now that we have settled that, we can move on to other things, like you and I getting our own place somewhere." Getting Dean out of Justin's house.

Dean glanced at Justin, who was pretending to not be listening. "We'll have to really work on that." Dean said. "I'm a technophile and you're dangerous to anything more evolved than a toaster."

"And here you were talking about surgically attaching yourself at my hip." Sam said with a shake of his shaggy head. "You didn't think that one through very well did you?"

"Oh I did. I would have been happy with a toaster if that happened. But since it didn't, I can have a microwave." Dean said with a laugh.

Sam laughed "Yeah, I guess that does make it difficult. " Which meant they wouldn't be able to really live in the same house. "Guess we should count ourselves lucky the plane works."

"We'll get a huge one. Maybe I'll buy one of those apartment buildings that foreclosed and fix it up. I get my tech area, you get your lab." Dean said as he stroked Max's fur and teased Ronan with his foot. "Back yard for the dogs. Hey, Harry can move in too."

"Works for me. Can even have a place for Dad to set up shop. That could work." Sam told him, grinning a little.

"I'll get the geeks to shore the place up. They did a nice job here." Dean said. "Look at that, you DO agree with one of my ideas."

"It's not an insane idea." Sam said.

"No, just unnecessary when all that is needed is for you to move back into your old rooms." Justin pointed out.

"None of my ideas are insane. I just have to work out the logistics to them is all." Dean said and rolled his eyes at Justin. "We're grown. Ready to venture out of the nest." He was being polite. And kind. And hoped Justin left it at that.

"You do realize I have roommates, right? Mouse and Thomas." Harry pointed out. "I'll understand if you change your mind about adding me to the list when you think about it."

Justin knew better. This was not a case of growing up. This was a case of throwing this entire affair in his face. The blame had unduly be centered on him.

"I like Mouse." Dean said. "Thomas is all right. As long as the place doesn't turn into a brothel. That's my responsibility."

"He's family. Might shove him into a forgotten corner so his mess doesn't creep out all over the place though." Sam suggested.

"I'm more worried about the Dad-Thomas interaction." Dean said with a wince. "But we've got time. Have to find the right place first."

"And have all the proper magic resistant tech built... and so on... by then Dad may have decided it's okay to move on with life and move in with Connie."

"Okay, two things. One, I don't see that happening." Dean said. "And two, Connie gets to make half that decision too."

"Obviously, but I don't see why it wouldn't happen. It's been more than 20 years. It's okay to move on." He wasn't dating but it had been much more recently for him after all.

"Well, I say we leave it up to them." Harry said.

"And I second that. Because moving in usually means having sex and I'm not grown up enough to picture that." Dean said.

"He's had sex twice that we know of... and well you can't have it both ways. Dad is either the end all and be all of manliness, or he is celibate. I don't think I have ever heard of it existing at the same time in one person... unless of course we are talking about a woman."

"Dude, you want to picture Dad having sex, go for it." Dean said with a chuckle. "I prefer it in vague terms thank you very much."

"I don't have to picture it, it really is possible to leave something an abstract, without a visual added. Merely an acknowledgment of the fact it happens. You're the one with a strange habit of visualizing everything connected with the word sex."

"So? You say that like it's a bad thing." Dean said. "I guess I'm just more of a concrete thinker than you."

"Probably has something to do with the concrete between the ears." Sam teased. Levity was good. Especially when stuck in a room with Justin. "Hey don't give me that look, you walked into that one."

"I'm medicated. I have an excuse." Dean said with a laugh. He did walk into that one. Usually he was sharper than that. 

Sam gave him a worried glance, but shook it off and laughed as well. "Hell you practically set that one up for me."

"Or maybe I was testing you to see how bad off you were." Dean said with a raised eyebrow. That sounded good too.

"Sure, if that's what it takes to make you feel better about it." Sam said as he stroked the puppy in his lap.

"And lucky for everyone, you're still on top of things enough to totally throw me under the bus." Dean said with a chuckle.

Sam laughed. "What are brothers for?" He asked. "So... how long until we land?"

"One hour. Hopefully enough time for you to run a comb through your hair and try to untangle it." Dean teased. "I know Maxie and Ronan will be thrilled to be on non moving ground again."

"So will Ming." He said. "He doesn't like flying. Hasn't attacked Mutt's ears once." Sam pointed out.

"Of which Mutt is probably very grateful and is trying to figure out how to lobby for extra flying time." Dean said with a laugh. "I'm looking for a nice long nap in my own bed to start with."

"Ming the merciless, what can I say?" Sam smiled as he leaned back in the seat. "Yeah, my own bed sounds good. Really good."

"Then we'll start looking up buildings. Maybe something in the older center of Chicago." Dean said as he closed his eyes. "Near some good bars and take out joints."

"Sounds good. Might be able to find something like a brown stone. Where we can have our own little apartments but still have a main gathering area."

"Good sized one." Dean said. "Remember, labs, training area, my office...."

"Sam and I could set up an office on the first floor as well." Harry suggested. "It could work out really well."

Dean sat up and took out his lap top and started browsing. "Ooh, this one looks good. Six family home. Needs renovation. But that could work out well. Each unit is 3 bed room, 1 bath, kitchen, deck in the back and convertible roof space. Plus, most importantly, a garage. If I get a new home, so does my baby."

"Sounds good. We can arrange to take a look at it. With 6 apartments Dad and Thomas could have their own places." Sam said. "Harry gets one for him and Mouse and then you and I can share one." Sam knew there would be no other option than he and Dean sharing an apartment. Neither trusted the other to take care of themselves. "Roof garden maybe..."

"The mansion is an ancestral home for our family." Justin said as he leafed through a newspaper. Pretending not to pay apt attention. "Both of your mothers grew up there."

"Yeah, and both our mothers ran away." Dean pointed out.

"Mary ran from our father. Not the home. She loved it there."

"Yeah." Sam said. "But we have grown up and it's time to move out on our own. One day we will come home in our old age, but this is Chicago. How ancestral can it be? Besides, Mom would not have loved that we grew up there, or that we grew up believing lies. Or that you murdered her brother in law... The kidnapping thing I don't think I even have to mention how much she wouldn't have liked that." Sam was tired of Justin. He loved his uncle but he didn't have the patience. "And if you have any survival instinct what so ever, you won't mention how much she wouldn't have liked what Dad was doing either. This isn't about Dad."

"I don't have to mention it. Both you boys know what she would have thought about that." Justin said.

"I loved my mother. And I hold her really up high. But let's face some facts. It doesn't matter what she would think, because she's dead. If she wasn't dead, if she wasn't murdered by a demon, we would have grown up in Kansas in that home probably for the rest of our lives. Her death was a big giant catalyst, and because of that, she doesn't get a say. Because she's not around to have a say." Dean snapped.

"I think neither of you boys is in the position to be making life changing plans." Justin said.

"I don't think you are in a position to stop us." Sam said firmly. "You don't get to have what you want. You don't get to use us anymore. Just deal with it and start being an uncle again instead of a manipulative bastard. If you ever were that is."

"Samuel, that's not fair." Justin admonished patiently. "My point is you've been through an unspeakable trauma. Dean very nearly died. You should both focus on recovery."

"I like distraction." Dean said with a shrug.

"Nothing about this situation is fair. Not one damned thing." Sam said. "Dean did nearly die. I was kidnapped, tortured. There has been enough out of our control lately. We get to make the decisions for a while."

"I fully support that, Sam." Justin said. "But you also have to take care of yourself first. You don't build a skyscraper on quicksand."

"We aren't building anything." Sam said "We are buying it. And we are taking care of ourselves. You don't do that by sticking your head in the sand and life on hold until the past goes away. Because it never does."

"Look, Justin." Dean said. "This is what we're doing. We're adults. We're making an adult choice. We're being adults by purchasing property. We're being very very adult. This is a good thing."

Harry shook his head. It had nothing to do with them being adults as far as Justin was concerned. He knew that. He also knew that Dean needed to watch his company more closely now, because Justin would find a way to try and get it back. Because he had lost something big, now he was going to want to get something big back. "Doesn't matter." He said. "It's not like anyone is leaving town. So let;s get ready to put down and go grab something that might actually stick to the ribs for more than an hour."

Dean chuckled and logged off. "Someone go wake up Dad." Dean said as he packed his computer away. "I'm so ready for a nap. Food, then nap."

Sam set Ming on the floor, and got up to head for his father. "Hey Dad." He said quietly at the door. "We're getting ready to land soon."

John opened his eyes and nodded before rubbing his face with his hands. "Got it." He said. "I take it you boys will be settling down for naps when we get off? So I don't have to stand sentry?"

"We're gonna get something to eat first but yeah. Dean has found an apartment building he is going to buy... and move into - the rest of us will have places there too, if you want it." He was relieved that Dean was moving out of the mansion.

"He's going to buy an apartment building?" John said. It always threw him how much money his sons had at their disposal. "Well, that's the best news I've heard all day." Sam being okay happened on one day. Dean making it out of surgery happened the next. "What changed his mind?"

"I think he is looking for a way to sit on top of me." Sam said with a smile. "Works for me. It means I get him out of Justin's place."

"Technically Justin is dead. The house belongs to all three of you. I think you should sell it right out from under him." John said with a shrug as he pulled his boots on.

"One more episode like this one and I will." Sam said. He wasn't giving Justin the benefit of the doubt. Not now, not ever.

"Well, remember, it takes the agreement of all three of you." John said as he tied his laces. He doubted Dean would agree, his oldest had some strong ideas about family, no matter what they did to him.

"Give me time." Sam said. "I can pull it off. Hoping that I never have to though. Unfortunately I think he always learns the opposite lesson from losing something major due to his lack of honesty or whatever. The only sort of behaving I see in the future is Justin behaving badly."

"That's a given." John said, standing up and stretching, popping his joints back into place. "So we'll have to see which direction he moves in first. The company or the council."

"I don't think he would risk moving against me. Merlin will be expecting it. It's going to be the company. That's my prediction anyway."

"Good." John said. "That can work to our advantage. Dean can shore up the company and it stops him from bleeding."

Sam nodded. "We've got it as under control as it can be." He said. "For now. Come on, let's go get buckled in so they can land this crazy thing."

John went out and sat in a seat, buckling his seat belt. "I'll be glad to be on solid land again. And not flying over the largest ocean." He said with a chuckle.

"Wimp." Dean teased him, popping another pain killer. Too late to take a sedative. Man he hated flying, with a passion. He'd trained himself to be outwardly calm, but inside he was clenched the entire time, convinced they were all going to crash and die. Just like every other flight he'd been on.

"Yeah cause Dean just loves flying?" Sam said buckling himself in and holding Ming. Max and Ronan jumped up on Dean's lap and settled in to a comfortable position.

Dean distracted himself by petting his dogs as he felt the plane make its final descent. "Dean loves flying." Dean answered, being sure to breathe. "His next trick, now that he's defeated the evil wardens and come back from the dead three times in one day, is to grow wings so a plane is unnecessary."

"Right." Sam said. "He likes flying the same way I like high tech elevators."

Dean let out a slow breath as the plane finally taxied to a stop in the private hangar. "Whatever dude, I'm hungry." He said as he undid his seat belt and got up quickly. John laughed.

"Oh he loves flying." John said with a rumbling chuckle. "Anyone can see that."

"See you when you get home. Do you mind taking Ming back with you and Mutt?" He didn't want to leave the dog in the Impala. Max and Mutt were used to long days on the road, and spending time guarding the car. Ming wasn't. He was barely used to being outside longer than the moments it took to do his business.

"No problem." John said, taking the puppy from Sam. "I'm stopping home first anyway. They can babysit each other."

"I would suggest rest for both you boys." Justin said.

"Nah. Food. Then I have to go over some points for the stock broker's meeting." Dean said with a shrug.

"You should delay that." Justin said with a frown.

"No need. It's in three weeks, I'll be fine by then." Dean said.

"Don't worry about Dean, he will be too busy making sure I'm not over doing it to overdo it himself." Sam told his uncle, at least pretending to give him the benefit of the doubt this time. It was a control tactic. That's all it was as far as he was concerned.

"We can be lazy together. Come on, Harry, let's get something to eat." He said as they all walked off the plane and toward the Impala and Blue Beetle.

"Dean, I've been thinking. We all have. Justin is going to try and get back the company." Harry warned him after Justin left the hangar.

"I know." Dean said with a sigh. "The meeting is actually Friday, not in three weeks. So I guess I have to be the involved boss for a while. Which is boring."

"And maybe Harry and I can start buying up the stock that isn't already in your hands. Beat him to the punch. You know, the fact that the man is legally dead could make things difficult for him moving large amounts of money... you know... if the right bureaucrats get wind of it."

"Very true." Dean said. "You and Harry both have dividend interests, more than enough to start gobbling up stock. Don't worry, Harry. It's a far different company than when Justin was in control. The only reason it's still called Morningway Enterprises is because changing the name at this stage, with this economy, is too risky."

"Besides, this gives you a way to spend all that money you don't want in a way that keeps it from Justin. That has to have some sort of appeal. Gives us reasons to band together even if he does get enough stock to have a voice in the company again."

"It has some appeal." Harry admitted. "We'll see what we can do. We don't need Justin having any power over any of us."

"Good, we're all in agreement. Let's go get a good drink and some real food. I'm looking forward to my own bed." Sam told him. "You know... we have a guest room... the dogs all get along." Sam said to Dean.

"I'm looking forward to my own bed same as you, Sam." Dean said patiently. "But thanks for the offer. Maybe tomorrow night."

"Yeah okay, just be careful." Sam said. He didn't like the idea of Dean being there alone with Justin. He wasn't sure he could make himself be in the same house with the man. It made no sense that he was thinking so much about when they had been hurried out of the house into the limo as children. Told that their father was never coming back. That he didn't want them any more. They had been so young, so scared and they had trusted him because he said he was their mother's brother. Someone connected to that sacred image.

And it had all been lies. It had just been another kidnapping. A way to hurt their father and get what he wanted. All that ever mattered to Justin was what he wanted. That much was plain with how he had responded to Harry the night he had died. Harry had reacted in self defense. Justin had been trying to end him. The spell that had been set in place to resurrect him had been set up with Harry in mind.

Justin was evil.

Dean looked at his brother. "Sam, I'll line my threshold with lots of cell phones bought from a local store." Dean said. "He goes near my door, they'll start sparking, and that will wake Maxie up if it doesn't wake me up." He assured both his brother and his cousin. "But after the battle, the hospital, the funeral, the flight...I just want my own bed."

"I know. It's okay. You're right. You do need your own bed." Sam acknowledged. "So food right?" He said as he moved to open the passenger door of the Impala.

"Food. Where are we going, Harry?" Dean asked, glad Sam wasn't pushing the issue. He would just like to sleep in his own bed with his dogs, just for one night before he gave into Sam.

"The usual. Not up for watching a bar fight tonight." Which happened when ever he and Sam were in a sports bar together. The TVs went on the fritz and then the yelling started.

"Me either, honestly." Dean said. "Alright, we'll see you at Mac's."

"I'm gonna go change my shirt first but I will catch up." Harry said heading for the blue beetle.

Sam settled into the passenger's seat and sighed. It was strangely comforting to be sitting in the Impala.

"Well, this has been an interesting few days." Dean said as he pulled the car out after the dogs had settled. "How about we drive by that place I found? Since Harry's going to be delayed anyway?"

"Sure." Sam said. "Sounds good. Figure out what we need to have done to it and if it's going to actually be livable."

"Not like our standards are high." Dean said with a laugh as he drove and then parked in front of an old large multi family home in an older part of Chicago. "Okay, this is it." He said.

"No matter how hard Justin tried to make us snobs." Sam said with a laugh. "I think he honestly believes that his way of life is the only safe way to live."

"He does have a point. If you live in a gated community with security and such, you're a lot safer than some of the motels we stayed at last year." Dean said with a laugh. "Remember some of them? I swear I heard gun shots at one of them."

Sam laughed as well. "Yeah. Funny thing is, nothing bad ever happened to me in those hotels. It's always happened in other places. Middle class house, my own car... never those hotels."

"Sure it did. The shtriga, remember?" Dean said. "Nah, guess you don't." He said with a shrug, Sam was lucky there. "Okay, let's take a look around."

"Can't have been too bad, if I don't remember it, or have any scars from it." Sam pointed out.

"You were sleeping. And it sucks life force, so you stayed asleep. Didn't start to wake up until Dad started shooting." Dean said as he got out of the car. This was on his list of subjects he least liked to talk about. "Okay, garage looks like it's a good size. That will work at least."

"That's a start." Sam said. "So why are you so uptight about that shtriga?" He asked. He knew his brother well enough to know when something was bothering him, and this was really bothering him.

"Why do you think, Sam?" Dean asked. "I wasn't supposed to leave the motel room. But I did. I come back and it's over you, killing you. And I still couldn't get the shot gun up fast enough to beat Dad coming in and shooting. Then he felt he had to drop us off with those people because I didn't know how to listen. And that's how Justin got ahold of us. Because I failed you with the shtriga. Everything else we can blame on Justin, but not that."

"Dean, you do realize how young we were when that happened, don't you? I love Dad but leaving us alone in a hotel room while he hunts down something that preys on children was about as stupid a move as it gets. That isn't on you. It's on Dad. And maybe dropping us off while he finished the job wasn't such a bad idea. He just trusted the wrong people."

"Still." Dean said. "It all traces back to the shtriga. And me. Can't get around that, Sammy. Anyway, it's ancient history."

"I can and yes it is. Think about it. Would you ever leave a kid to protect another kid from monsters?" He asked. "Yeah, Dad had no choice, but that isn't the point."

"Drop it, Sam." Dean said. "You're infringing on my inner peace, here."

"Yeah cause you are so at peace with the whole thing." Sam said and sighed. "Fine, but you know... I was the one that supposedly got hurt, so if I can forgive what ever you think you did wrong, why don't you give it a shot?" He shook his head. "Okay, let's go see what the apartments look like."

Dean called the real estate agent, who came right over with the keys and let them in, unlocking all the units as she went. "Needs a new roof." Dean commented.

"This property is a foreclosure property." The agent said. "I'm sure you can arrange with the bank to have that taken care of." That wouldn't be hard, Morningway Enterprises seemed to own half of Chicago.

Sam looked through one of the apartments. It looked structurally sound, the roof needed replacing, and there was a lot of little repair jobs to be done. There were places the counters were a little ragged, some places where the floor need some repair, nothing dangerous just unsightly. All in all it was a good place. "A contractor could have it in shape in no time."

"A lot of this we could do ourselves." Dean said. "Have a contractor draw up some plans, knock down some walls, flooring, painting, we can do that." And it was something to do. He'd be so invested in protecting his company, hunting was out. Even after he recovered. He needed something physical to look forward to or he'd go nuts.

"True." Sam said as he looked around. "We could customize our own place how we want it. The first floor offices...It could work."

"Soundproofing." Dean said. "Nice thick walls and floors." He gave a bit of a grin to the agent, who blushed in response. "And there's a park not too far for the dogs, in case the back yard isn't big enough for them all the time."

"I think it's a good investment." Sam said nodding. "Time and money wise." He went to look out the window. "The back yard needs work too. Nothing sod won't fix."

"Great. We'll take it." Dean told the agent. "Call the bank in the morning, have them send the papers to my office."

"Of course." She said with a bright smile. The commission on a building this size would be more than most people made in a year. "I'll have them sent over first thing in the morning."

"Sounds good." Dean said and shook her hand. "Come on, Sam, let's get over to Mac's and tell Harry the good news."

Harry reassured Mouse that he hadn't left him in Thomas's care forever, and gave his half brother the run down on what had happened while he cleaned up.

"Wow." Thomas said. "And you guys think Justin was pretty much behind everything and it just spun out of control? Or did he mean for Dean to die?"

"I think it got out of control. Not that it excuses anything. Honestly I think his cheese has slipped off his cracker completely. I think it was gone long before our mother or Mary left."

"No, it doesn't excuse anything." Thomas agreed. "So is everyone okay? I mean physically."

"Dean is recovering. He'll be okay in a couple weeks. Sam took more magical damage than actual physical damage. Speaking from experience, the sensation is worse, with that annoying side effect of not being injured enough to pass out from it. So physically he is fine, emotionally I think he might be on the verge of cracking."

"And you guys put him on the High Council?" Thomas asked. "Because that should work out well. Works out great for vampires when someone unstable heads their courts, right?"

"Sam will come through it. He isn't the only voice on the council and right now he is more likely to err on the side of caution." Or go completely subzero tolerance on some things. Which isn't healthy really.

"You think so?" Thomas asked. "Fine, whatever, it's a wizard's problem anyway. The whole family thing, not feeling it yet. Haven't hung out with them enough I guess."

"There will be time for that. We're going to get a beer and some food at Mac's you want to come?"

"Well, it is a neutral place." Thomas said. "Does that mean I have to change?""

"Casual is fine." He said looking his brother over. "Let me just put down more food for Mouse and then we can head out."

"Oh you don't need to. While you were gone, I taught him how to open the fridge. He's fine." Thomas said as he grabbed his jacket.

"You didn't." Harry said. "Seriously... you didn't. Do you have any idea how much he is going to eat? I still eat solid food... or I did before you taught him... you didn't really teach him to open the fridge...Did you?"

"No, relax. I didn't. I tried. But he's lazy and expects us to wait on him hand and foot." Thomas said with a roll of his eyes.

"He's a dog." Harry said as he put down more food. "That whole lack of opposable thumbs thing makes it difficult for them to open their own cans of food. Trust me, he isn't lazy." Thomas however was another matter entirely.

"He's lazy." Thomas assured his half brother. "He has sharp teeth, if he were hungry enough, he'd manage. He might even try to eat one of us."

"You're confusing Dog and Cat." Harry said with a laugh, heading out the door. "You'll figure it out eventually. I have faith in you."

"Then why do people get torn apart by Rottweilers?" Thomas said, following him out. "If their teeth are nice and blunted?"

"It's not that they don't have sharp teeth. It's just that cats are more likely to eat people than dogs are." Harry said. "Although in the interest of not having Mouse sit on you, and drown you in slobber, it might not be a bad plan to feed him regularly, that and he was my roommate first."

"The mutt is playing the seniority card? That is so low." Thomas said, shaking his head. "That's ridiculous. But anyway, I even went grocery shopping. Dean was right, people give credit cards to anyone!"

Harry closed his eyes slowly and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Its in your name correct?" He asked, figuring this was going to end badly. Very badly. Maybe he should arrange for Thomas to get his piece of the family money pie. Maybe then he wouldn't have to worry about... oh who was he kidding. It would just be on a grander scale.

Thomas flashed a smile. "Better. It's in my father's name." He said. "I thought it was fitting, he should pay for my upkeep."

"Well that should be interesting. Until he gets the bills. " He pointed out "Then it will get interesting in that Chinese curse sort of way. "

"You're such a downer." Thomas said. "What can I say? We all have Daddy issues. Even you, because he's dead."

"Which really translates to uncle issues. Because as you say, my father is dead." He got behind the wheel of the blue beetle, and was relieved to hear it start up.

Thomas laughed at his relief. "You need a new car. I know, I know, maybe not a 'new' car, but Dean's car doesn't run like this."

"That's because Dean isn't a wizard and Sam doesn't ride with him very often." Harry pointed out. "And it's an older car to begin with. The fact that Dean is an accomplished mechanic has something to do with it I'm sure."

"You're just full of excuses." Thomas said. "So what kind of move is Justin going to make? My mother was his sister, this does involve me, whether I'm a wizard or a vampire."

"I don't know. But it wouldn't surprise me if he found some way to try and use you as well. We think his next move is going to be to try and take the company back from Dean."

"And why are we stopping him? It's not like the company is Dean's first priority? Or even his third."

"Because it's Justin." Harry said. "And he is reaching for power. Power he shouldn't have. Besides, it would give him some sort of control over their lives. That whole controlling the money thing."

"Great, more power plays." Thomas said with a sigh. The White Court was nothing but one big power play. And now his human/wizard family was one big power play.

"Doesn't matter what race you belong to, it's all about power plays. Those that play and those that try not to get trampled by the players." He said as he pulled into the parking lot.

"So much for a peaceful life." Thomas said as he got out of the car. "How about a peaceful night?"

"That would be nice, wouldn't it?" Harry said, he wasn't going to jinx it by saying he hoped for it , or figured they could count on at least that much. It was like saying things were quiet when you worked in any sort of emergency services. You were sure to have a 29 car pile up with some sort of explosion that chanced to somehow breach the walls of the local mad house. He didn't want to see the wizardly equivalent.

Dean waved them over to a table when he saw them come in the door. He and Sam had already ordered an impressive array of food and drink. "So I bought the building. The whole damn thing."

"Really? Did you get a chance to look at it or all we going to be surprised when we get there?" He hadn't said the words, he had been careful not to say the words. Honestly he had. He hadn't used quiet or peaceful, or any other soothing reassuring words in regard to the evening. So why did he have the distinct impression that things were about to become... interesting?

"Yes, we went in and poked around. Legally too, we even waited for the agent." Dean said with a roll of his eyes. Like locks could keep either him or his brother out. "Needs a new roof. I'll have the electric and plumbing looked at. Get a contractor in there to break down some walls, it'll be fun."

"I assume you are going to have them put up a few walls while they are at it... depending on what walls are coming down." Harry said. He was glad to see it was coming along, but worried that it was coming along so speedily. The boys were not well. Not well at all.

"Once I have the blueprints, I figure we'll all meet with the contractor and see what walls come down and what walls go up. What bathrooms get moved, things like that." Dean said. "Maybe I'll do a project for the whole neighborhood. Something for kids, redo that playground or something."

"Sam, is my new found cousin manic?" Thomas asked.

"No, just hyperactive." Sam commented and took a long drink of his beer. "You get used to it after a while."

"Why does everyone say I'm hyperactive?" Dean said with a scowl. "I'm making plans. And they're quite diabolical. When Justin was in charge of the company, he would endorse a charity function a year. One. I hate those charity functions, all that black tie mess, but it looks good. Now, if I revitalize a neighborhood, that's great publicity. And hard for Justin to compete with, he doesn't have the personality. Thinking of more low key events too. Maybe a big barbeque picnic or something, something Justin wouldn't be caught dead at. I've already increased profits by putting us more into technology and development, and been pretty hands on. Something Justin can never do because he can't go near that stuff, which is great for me. Pay is up, benefits are better and there are even great vacation plans in place. But he's going to hit hard and I have to be prepared, and everyone has a soft spot for kids. And kids like me."

"Kids like you?" Thomas asked.

"Kids love me." Dean said.

"They do." Sam said nodding. "You know, you could also arrange for a company picnic type things. Someplace cool, have them bring the kids. Give some sort of reward system for community service if they can prove they have done it."

"That's a great idea." Dean said, scrawling it on a napkin. Too many wizards around for him to chance bringing his blackberry, he didn't really want to test the limits on it.

"People like to see the big corporations giving back. It actually brings in more revenue. If he tries to take it over, you know he is legally dead. He will have to come up with some way of excusing that to the share holders as well." Harry pointed out.

"He's got an in. I just haven't found it yet. He's been getting money slushed over to him for some time, since his doppelganger was around." Dean said. "So someone knows."

"You have to find who that someone is, and get them out of the picture." Thomas said. "If he or she knows, they are pretty much in his pocket. No one that has a secret lets anyone know it, if they don't have some sort of guarantee of control." Thomas said. "At least no one I have ever met, and this uncle of ours sounds like a real manipulative bastard and it would be right up his alley. If he has control of them, he also knows everything they know."

"Yeah, and that's a problem. Which is why I need everyone I like to start gobbling up stock tomorrow." Dean said. "It's the only way he could really pull it off is a take over by stock shares. He wouldn't have as much as I do, that's impossible, but he could get enough to really cause trouble. And then get his foot in the door. Then take over."

"Don't worry, I'm on it." Sam said. "I made a couple of calls while you were inspecting the roof."

"I think I will dip into that account you have had set aside for me against my wishes" Harry said. "And split it between Thomas and myself. It's from our mother's share of the stock after all." He pointed out. Thomas was going to become officially family. He would see to it. He was his brother after all. Even if he was a lousy roommate. "And we will both buy up more stock." He added giving Thomas no choice in the matter.

"Stock means dividends, which means income, right?" Thomas said with a grin. "I'm all for that."

Dean chuckled. "Then you should support me like a good cousin in making the company successful to increase your dividends." Dean pointed out. "And cock blocking Justin."

"I think between the four of us, we've got enough cock to block Justin." Thomas said and Dean nearly spit out his drink, he was laughing so hard.

Sam laughed, and it was a genuine laugh. He found it ironic that all of Justin's nephews were of a more earthy sort than you would expect to have ever been connected to the Morningway name. Apparently the Morningway genes weren't the dominant ones in the bloodline.


End file.
